Maintaining the continued flow of benefits from science, as well as societal support for science, requires sustained engagement between the research community and the general public. On the basis of data from an international survey of 1092 participants (634 established researchers and 458 students) in 55 countries and 315 research institutions, we found that institutional recognition of engagement activities is perceived to be undervalued relative to the societal benefit of those activities. Many researchers report that their institutions do not reward engagement activities despite institutions’ mission statements promoting such engagement. Furthermore, institutions that actually measure engagement activities do so only to a limited extent. Most researchers are strongly motivated to engage with the public for selfless reasons, which suggests that incentives focused on monetary benefits or career progress may not align with researchers’ values. If institutions encourage researchers’ engagement activities in a more appropriate way – by moving beyond incentives – they might better achieve their institutional missions and bolster the crucial contributions of researchers to society.

中文翻译：

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研究人员参与被认为对社会有益但没有回报的政策

保持科学利益的持续流动以及社会对科学的支持，需要研究界和公众之间的持续参与。根据对 55 个国家和 315 个研究机构的 1092 名参与者（634 名资深研究人员和 458 名学生）的国际调查数据，我们发现，相对于这些活动的社会效益，机构对参与活动的认可被认为被低估了。许多研究人员报告说，尽管机构的使命声明促进了这种参与，但他们的机构并不奖励参与活动。此外，实际衡量参与活动的机构仅在有限的范围内这样做。大多数研究人员出于无私的原因有强烈的动机与公众接触，这表明专注于金钱利益或职业发展的激励措施可能与研究人员的价值观不一致。如果机构以更合适的方式鼓励研究人员的参与活动——通过超越激励措施——它们可能会更好地实现其机构使命并加强研究人员对社会的重要贡献。