Pre-eminent science journal Nature is airing concerns that US government demands for more accountability, including a demand for cleaning up flawed studies, are “being weaponized against science itself.” Elisabeth Bik, a sleuth who hunts down bad papers, expressed worries:

“I am very worried about how the work we do in pointing out bad papers is currently being misused, or even weaponized, to convince the general public that all science is bad”.

Miryam Naddaf, “Research-integrity sleuths say their work is being ‘twisted’ to undermine science,” July 11, 2025

Actually, trust in science has been in steep decline for decades but many researchers may not have noticed:

Sleuths’ concerns have sharpened with US President Donald Trump’s return to office early this year. In May, Trump signed an executive order to restore ‘gold-standard science’, instructing federal agencies to revise their research-integrity policies and protect ‘alternative scientific opinions’. The directive cites retractions and failures to replicate scientific studies as reasons for the public’s waning trust in science.

Research-integrity sleuths and specialists warn that this rhetoric could be used to cast doubt on established research and give politicians more power to decide what counts as ‘credible’ science. “I really feel as if the administration is engaged in reverse alchemy, and it’s turning America’s scientific gold into lead,” says David Sanders, a sleuth and biologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. ‘Twisted’ to undermine science,”

Fortunately, the gold-into-lead hypothesis is testable.

The new administration seems to be responding to a science culture that tolerates a good deal of fraud and waste, with endless protestations that reform is just around the corner. If reform efforts succeed, they are bound to make many uncomfortable, including some of the sleuths.

You may also wish to read:

1. Why many now reject science… do you really want to know? COVID demonstrated — as nothing else could — that the “science” was all over the map and didn’t help people avoid panic. As the panic receded, the government started setting up a disinformation board to target NON-government sources of panic, thus deepening loss of trust.

2. Researchers: Distrust of science is due to tribal loyalty. In Part 2 of 4, we look at a claim arising from a recent study: We blindly believe those we identify with, ignoring the wisdom of science. There seems to be no recognition that researchers, however fiercely competitive among themselves, also have a tribal loyalty that skews their judgment.

3.Researchers: If we tell folks more about science, they trust less. Part 3: The researchers argue that doubts about science arise from conflict with beliefs. The many COVID-19 debacles suggest other causes…
Generally, the remedy for loss of trust after widespread failures is reform of the system, not reform of its doubters. Post-COVID, scientists should take heed.

and

4. Claim: If science were properly presented, trust would grow! The ideas examined in these four short essays all assume that scientists are exempt from the bias and self-interest that governs everyone else. We’re asked to believe that scientists are somehow exempt from the bias problem ingrained in our biology — yet they have the same biology as everyone else…