June 2025
On June 23, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released guidance to federal agencies for implementing the Executive Order “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” President Trump issued the order in May to “to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous, and impactful, and that Federal decisions are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.” (See related coverage in May AERA Highlights.)
The OSTP guidance expands upon the nine tenets of gold standard science that were included in the Executive Order and actions agencies should take to address each tenet:
For example, under “Reproducible,” the guidance asks agencies to “prioritize disciplined scientific methods and experimental design,” while also encouraging sharing data and code in publicly accessible repositories. Under “Skeptical of its findings and assumptions,” the guidance notes that agencies should “support innovative methods to promote constructive skepticism” while also encouraging funding replication studies and statistical validation methods.
OSTP is directing federal agencies to implement the gold science standard tenets for all intramural and extramural research and through all stages of the application and award process. The guidance also encourages federal agencies to use artificial intelligence for gold standard science activities.
Agencies are required to submit plans to OSTP within 60 days that include descriptions of their evaluation metrics to assess adherence to the tenets, training and resources for agency staff, how technology will be used for implementation, and challenges encountered in implementation.