Streamlining Science: Recreating Systematic Literature Reviews with AI-Powered Decision Tools

In recent years there has been an explosion of new information technologies that use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve decision-making in scientific research. However, the pace of innovation has far exceeded the capacity of researchers to evaluate such technologies. This project evaluates two new AI-powered research assistant tools for decision-making in literature review: Elicit, which uses GPT, and Research Rabbit, which uses a snowballing algorithm and natural language processing. Using a database search as a control, this project will evaluate overlap of records retrieved, proportion of records missed, time savings, and usability for each tool. The goal is to ascertain the technologies’ reliability, efficiency, and acceptance. Such thorough evaluation is necessary to establish trust in these tools’ performance and therefore to promote their adoption. This is the first known assessment of AI tools that operate by iteratively employing user’s decisions as feedback for retrieving information for literature review

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 67 countries

Scientific information is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in science can help decision-makers act based on the best available evidence, especially during crises such as climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. Here we interrogated these concerns with a pre-registered 67-country survey of 71,417 respondents on all inhabited continents and find that in most countries, a majority of the public trust scientists and think that scientists should be more engaged in policymaking. We further show that there is a discrepancy between the public’s perceived and desired priorities of scientific research. Moreover, we find variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual-and country-level variables,including political orientation. While these results do not show widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 67 countries

Scientific information is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in science can help decision-makers act based on the best available evidence, especially during crises such as climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. Here we interrogated these concerns with a pre-registered 67-country survey of 71,417 respondents on all inhabited continents and find that in most countries, a majority of the public trust scientists and think that scientists should be more engaged in policymaking. We further show that there is a discrepancy between the public’s perceived and desired priorities of scientific research. Moreover, we find variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual-and country-level variables,including political orientation. While these results do not show widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists

COS Ambassadors

A collection of materials and resources for COS ambassadors