The news item below is from the STM Publishers Association:
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White House issues guidance on controversial ‘Gold Standard Science’
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-s...
Following an executive order promoting ‘Gold Standard Science,’ the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has issued guidance for agencies on ‘incorporating Gold Standard Science tenets into their research activities.’
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/ostp-issues-agency-guidance-...
The original executive order raised concerns and debate in the scientific community, as these articles show:
- ‘Fool’s Gold’ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz3920
- ‘Why Trump’s push for “gold standard science” has researchers alarmed’ https://www.startribune.com/why-trumps-push-for-gold-standard-science-ha...
- OSTP Director Kratsios’ defence: ‘Sound policy demands sound science’ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz9562
- H. Holden Thorp: ‘Sluggishness and defensiveness helped enable an executive order on research integrity’ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz9553
The OSTP memo focuses on the ‘Tenets of Gold Standard Science’ that are key to research integrity without suggesting that research must be discarded if it does not 100% meet the criteria.
Agencies are directed to report on steps taken or planned to implement the guidance by 25 August. We’ll keep monitoring and engaging on these issues and keep our members informed of further developments.
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The original Executive Order defines Gold Standard Science as 'science conducted in a manner that is:
(i) reproducible;
(ii) transparent;
(iii) communicative of error and uncertainty;
(iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary;
(v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions;
(vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses;
(vii) subject to unbiased peer review;
(viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and
(ix) without conflicts of interest.'
I note that it does not include 'rigorous' or 'accurate'.
Perhaps there should be a parallel Gold Standard Policy which defines the basic criteria by which policymakers should implement policy based on evidence rather than on ideology. Failure to apply Gold Standard Policy should result in termination of responsibilities.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org