Trust is a powerful and central aspect of our lives and is vital to a fully functioning democracy and the free and applied flow of ideas. This is reflected across disciplines including science, media governance, religion, business, philosophy, medicine, political science, public health, and others. While aspects of trust dynamics and relationships differ across the spectrum from the individual up to large institutional or even multi-national levels, trust remains highly consequential in all settings. Communication and information flow are critical mediators of trust; playing central roles in its development and sustainment, as well as its erosion. In the wake of a tumultuous COVID pandemic, the already flagging trust in public institutions has sunk to new lows. This Research Topic investigates the origins and impacts of this broad decline in trust and works across disciplines and expertise to propose strategies for its restoration.
Our goal is to use the analysis of trust—and its erosion—across disciplines to identify and understand the origins of its decline and arrive at recommendations for its restoration. Society's most complex problems require rigorous interdisciplinary collaboration from the specialists, the meta-level thinkers, and those that can connect and integrate the first two groups. This Research Topic engages all three classes of thinkers to collaboratively target its aims.
We invite authors to submit Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Methods, Community Case Study, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Policy Brief, Case Report, and Opinion manuscripts related to trust. Specifically, manuscripts should include a focus that relates to the development or erosion of trust within society, and when possible, propose recommendations or solutions.
In order to capture key arenas of trust in society, this Research Topic is cross-listed in six separate specialty sections within the Frontiers journal portfolio. Authors should submit manuscripts to the journal section that best matches their topic. Specifically,
• manuscripts dealing with the intersections between human communication, science, and/or the environment should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication: Science and Environmental Communication;
• manuscripts dealing with media governance and regulation should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication or Frontiers in Sociology: Media Governance and the Public Sphere;
• manuscripts dealing with issues at the intersection of communication, organization/organizing, and trust should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication: Organizational Communication;
• manuscripts dealing with elections, campaigns, and voting behavior topics should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Political Science: Elections and Representation;
• manuscripts dealing with political engagement and participation should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Political Science: Political Participation;
• manuscripts dealing with public health topics should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Public Health: Public Health Education and Promotion;
• manuscripts dealing with ethical, legal, and social implications in the biological sciences should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Genetics or Frontiers in Pharmacology: ELSI in Science and Genetics.
Keywords:trust, science, interdisciplinarity, confidence, reliability, honesty, public trust, ethics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Trust is a powerful and central aspect of our lives and is vital to a fully functioning democracy and the free and applied flow of ideas. This is reflected across disciplines including science, media governance, religion, business, philosophy, medicine, political science, public health, and others. While aspects of trust dynamics and relationships differ across the spectrum from the individual up to large institutional or even multi-national levels, trust remains highly consequential in all settings. Communication and information flow are critical mediators of trust; playing central roles in its development and sustainment, as well as its erosion. In the wake of a tumultuous COVID pandemic, the already flagging trust in public institutions has sunk to new lows. This Research Topic investigates the origins and impacts of this broad decline in trust and works across disciplines and expertise to propose strategies for its restoration.
Our goal is to use the analysis of trust—and its erosion—across disciplines to identify and understand the origins of its decline and arrive at recommendations for its restoration. Society's most complex problems require rigorous interdisciplinary collaboration from the specialists, the meta-level thinkers, and those that can connect and integrate the first two groups. This Research Topic engages all three classes of thinkers to collaboratively target its aims.
We invite authors to submit Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Methods, Community Case Study, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Policy Brief, Case Report, and Opinion manuscripts related to trust. Specifically, manuscripts should include a focus that relates to the development or erosion of trust within society, and when possible, propose recommendations or solutions.
In order to capture key arenas of trust in society, this Research Topic is cross-listed in six separate specialty sections within the Frontiers journal portfolio. Authors should submit manuscripts to the journal section that best matches their topic. Specifically,
• manuscripts dealing with the intersections between human communication, science, and/or the environment should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication: Science and Environmental Communication;
• manuscripts dealing with media governance and regulation should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication or Frontiers in Sociology: Media Governance and the Public Sphere;
• manuscripts dealing with issues at the intersection of communication, organization/organizing, and trust should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Communication: Organizational Communication;
• manuscripts dealing with elections, campaigns, and voting behavior topics should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Political Science: Elections and Representation;
• manuscripts dealing with political engagement and participation should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Political Science: Political Participation;
• manuscripts dealing with public health topics should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Public Health: Public Health Education and Promotion;
• manuscripts dealing with ethical, legal, and social implications in the biological sciences should be submitted to the Research Topic via Frontiers in Genetics or Frontiers in Pharmacology: ELSI in Science and Genetics.
Keywords:trust, science, interdisciplinarity, confidence, reliability, honesty, public trust, ethics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
