Edited by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dan Kahan, and Dietram A. Scheufele (Oxford University Press, 2017)
In an era of climate denial, vaccine hesitancy, and viral conspiracy theories, it is tempting to assume that the solution lies in providing more information, more data, more facts. The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication makes a compelling, evidence-based case that this assumption is deeply flawed — and that understanding how people interpret, trust, resist, or reinterpret scientific information is just as important as producing the science itself.
This substantial volume, running to nearly 470 pages and comprising 47 scholarly essays, does not offer media tips or rhetorical tricks. Instead, it maps out what the editors call a “science of science communication” — an empirical, interdisciplinary field that studies how scientific knowledge moves (or fails to move) through society, shaped by psychology, culture, politics, media systems, and institutional trust.
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From Intuition to Evidence: Why Science Needs Its Own Communication Science
The introductory chapter, “Why Science Communication?”, sets the tone with a striking observation: those who communicate science often rely on intuition rather than scientific research to decide how to engage the public. For decades, this was partly because systematic research on science communication barely existed. That is no longer the case.
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The editors define the science of science communication as:
“an empirical approach to defining and understanding audiences, designing messages, mapping communication landscapes, and—most important—evaluating the effectiveness of communication efforts.”
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Crucially, they argue that science communication is constrained by science itself — by uncertainty, probability, evolving evidence, and methodological rigor — in ways that distinguish it from political or commercial messaging. This creates structural tensions when science enters media environments driven by drama, speed, and simplified narratives.
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Six Interlocking Arenas of Communication
Rather than treating communication as a single pipeline from expert to public, the handbook proposes a complex ecosystem. The 47 chapters are organized into six thematic parts, each followed by synthesis essays that distill findings and identify research gaps:
- An overview of the science of science communication
- Identifying and overcoming challenges to science featured in attacks on science
- Failures and successes in communicating science
- The roles of elite intermediaries in communicating science
- The role, power, and peril of media for the communication of science
- Overcoming challenges in communicating science in a polarized environment
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This structure reflects the editors’ central model: scientists and institutions communicate both directly (through publications, reports, and websites) and indirectly, through journalists, political leaders, advocacy groups, and entertainment media. Meanwhile, audiences process these messages through cognitive shortcuts, group identities, emotional reactions, and moral values — sometimes reinforcing, and sometimes distorting, scientific meaning.
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When More Information Makes Things Worse
One of the most unsettling findings repeatedly highlighted across chapters is that providing more factual information can sometimes entrench false beliefs rather than correct them. The synthesis chapter of Part I notes that scientific complexity, combined with human cognitive biases and changing media environments, means that simply “supplying information” is rarely sufficient to produce science-consistent beliefs.
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Several chapters in later sections examine:
- confirmation bias and motivated reasoning,
- selective exposure to agreeable information,
- innumeracy and misinterpretation of risk,
- fear of “unnatural” technologies such as GMOs,
- and persistent myths like the MMR–autism association.
These are not framed as failures of intelligence, but as predictable outcomes of how human cognition evolved to function in social groups rather than statistical laboratories.
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Importantly, the book does not advocate manipulation. Instead, it argues that communicators must acknowledge that values and identities are inseparable from information processing, and that trust in messengers often matters more than the precision of messages.
Science in a Media and Political Storm
Part V of the handbook addresses the uneasy relationship between science and modern media systems. Here, chapters explore how news values, entertainment framing, and political polarization shape which scientific claims gain attention and how they are interpreted.
The book repeatedly returns to the idea of the “science communication environment” — a constantly shifting field of cues, narratives, and institutional signals that citizens use to decide what counts as credible knowledge. In such environments, debates about science easily become proxies for deeper cultural conflicts.
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A striking case study woven throughout the introduction is the Zika virus outbreak of 2016, which the editors use to test whether the handbook’s conceptual framework can guide responses to real-world crises. Zika combined medical uncertainty, reproductive politics, global travel, and sensational media coverage — precisely the kind of environment where misinformation and polarization thrive.
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Not Just for Scientists
Although academically rigorous, the editors are explicit that the book is not intended only for scholars. The target audience includes:
“those on the front lines tasked with communicating complex and sometimes controversial science to policymakers and the public on consequential topics ranging from nanotechnology and nuclear power to the need for vaccination.”
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This makes the handbook particularly relevant for:
- science journalists,
- public health officials,
- policy advisers,
- educators,
- NGO communicators,
- and institutional science officers.
What the book offers them is not a checklist of talking points, but a deeper diagnostic toolkit: why audiences react as they do, why controversies persist, and why well-intended campaigns often misfire.
What Do Other Reviewers Say?
The academic reception of The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication has been largely positive, emphasizing its scope and theoretical maturity.
- In Public Understanding of Science, reviewer Bruce V. Lewenstein (Cornell University) describes the volume as
“a landmark consolidation of a field that has long existed in fragments, now brought together with theoretical clarity and empirical depth.”
He highlights the value of the synthesis chapters in helping readers navigate the diversity of methods and disciplines represented. - In Science Communication journal, Matthew C. Nisbet notes that the handbook
“moves the field beyond deficit models and persuasion tactics toward a genuinely systemic understanding of how science circulates in society.”
He also praises the editors for integrating political communication and risk perception research into science communication scholarship. - A review in The Quarterly Review of Biology points out that while the book is demanding, it is
“essential reading for anyone who still believes that public resistance to science can be solved by clearer graphs and louder experts.”
These reviews underline a shared conclusion: the handbook is not light reading, but it fills a crucial gap between laboratory science and real-world public understanding.
(Note: full bibliographic references for these reviews can be provided separately if needed.)
A Handbook for an Age of Misinformation
What ultimately distinguishes The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication from popular books on misinformation is its refusal to reduce the problem to bad actors or ignorant audiences. Instead, it presents communication failures as systemic, predictable, and empirically measurable — which also means they are, at least in principle, addressable through research-guided strategies.
The final chapters look ahead to a communication environment shaped by social media, algorithmic filtering, fragmented publics, and globalized crises. The editors argue that future science communication must be adaptive, interdisciplinary, and deeply aware of the psychological and cultural terrain in which facts compete for attention.
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In that sense, this handbook is not merely a reference work. It is also a warning: without understanding how people actually think, trust, and belong, even the best science may fail to inform the decisions that shape our collective future.
Sources
Primary source (book):
Jamieson, K. H., Kahan, D., & Scheufele, D. A. (Eds.). (2017).
The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication. Oxford University Press.
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Selected external reviews mentioned in the article:
- Lewenstein, B. V. Review in Public Understanding of Science.
- Nisbet, M. C. Review in Science Communication.
Review in The Quarterly Review of Biology.