Political Expression of Academics on Social Media

Political Expression of Academics on Social Media | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Political Expression of Academics on Social Media Prashant Garg, Thiemo Fetzer This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4480504/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 03 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Human Behaviour → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Academics have traditionally played a vital role in both the generation and dissemination of knowledge, ideas and narratives. Social media, relative to traditional media, provides for new and more direct ways of science communication. Yet, since not all academics may engage with social media, the sample that does so may have an outsize influence on shaping public perceptions of academia more broadly through at least two channels: the set topics they engage with and through the particular style and tone of communication. This paper describes patterns in academics' expression online found in a newly constructed global dataset covering over 100,000 scholars linking their social media content to academic record. We document large and systematic variation in politically salient academic expression concerning climate action, cultural, and economic concepts. We show that these appear to often diverge from general public opinion in both topic focus and style. Scientific community and society/Scientific community Social science/Science, technology and society Social science/Economics Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 03 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Human Behaviour → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4480504","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":311663946,"identity":"6760540b-bd61-4b51-835b-8909e3edb7ee","order_by":0,"name":"Prashant Garg","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College College","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Prashant","middleName":"","lastName":"Garg","suffix":""},{"id":311663947,"identity":"02464caa-c63a-4936-8217-19a4235a19a2","order_by":1,"name":"Thiemo Fetzer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Warwick","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Thiemo","middleName":"","lastName":"Fetzer","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-05-26 14:50:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4480504/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4480504/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02199-1","type":"published","date":"2025-06-03T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":83887725,"identity":"faf03796-0647-428c-8a6b-1a45d0580c0f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-04 07:09:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":6014160,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NHBpaper.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4480504/v1_covered_4217fd24-9508-41d1-b581-04818f56456d.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Political Expression of Academics on Social Media","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4480504/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4480504/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Academics have traditionally played a vital role in both the generation and dissemination of knowledge, ideas and narratives. 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