ArticlePloS one2023
The role of science in a crisis: Talks by political leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Participation of civil society organizations and academia in COVID-19 governance: insights from a six country study.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- "Early, rapid, aggressive": when strategic interactions between governments, opposition, and lobbies can hinder effective responses to epidemics.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2025Article
- Divisive negative discourse biases social experience: a live experiment at a massive public event.Humanities & social sciences communications · 2025Article
- Political Leaders' Communication Strategies during COVID-19 in Highly Infected Countries: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, science has been prominently featured in institutional communication and political agendas as never before. Governments substantially relied on scientific experts to analyze pandemic trends, develop anti-COVID-19 vaccines and adopt containment strategies. In this paper, we analyze speeches by three political leaders-Boris Johnson (Prime Minister, UK), Sergio Mattarella (President of the Republic, Italy), and Ursula von der Leyen (President, European Commission)-between February 20, 2020, and February 20, 2022, to identify how science was addressed and framed. The results of the quantitative and qualitative exploration of the speeches highlight three main ways in which political leaders view science: a national pride narrative-i.e., science as an instrument and indicator of national pride and international standing of the country; an ethical narrative-i.e., science as an agent of social growth; an integration narrative-i.e., science as a driving force of both European integration and stronger collaboration between knowledge production and industry. The predominant narrative varies in relation to the political leaders' different institutional contexts and roles.
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Registered trials
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