Education, research and culture

Executive Order 14303: Restoring Gold Standard Science

President: Donald J. Trump

Established principles for reproducibility, transparency, uncertainty, peer review and correction and directed agencies to revise scientific-integrity policies.

Status: In effect.

Is Executive Order 14303 still in effect? Yes. Active; agency scientific-integrity policies under revision.

An atom model, microscope, flask, books, a balance and charts frame a scientific-policy document.
Scientific-integrity standards, illustrated conceptually; the charts and gold symbols are not empirical findings or proof that a study is valid. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 14303 do?

The text directs OSTP to issue implementation guidance, and Agencies to revise scientific-integrity policies.

Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: DOE published an implementation plan for this order's nine science tenets and describes subsequent DOE scientific-integrity directives; the plan does not establish outcomes at all agencies. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale are administration positions. This guide distinguishes those claims from official implementation and judicial records.

Reading the operative provisions of Executive Order 14303

EO 14303 sets executive-branch principles for scientific work, including reproducibility, transparency, clear treatment of uncertainty, peer review and correction of errors. It directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to issue guidance and agencies to revise scientific-integrity policies. The order is published as EO 14303 in the Federal Register. It establishes standards for federal practice; it does not itself resolve scientific disputes or change every research finding.

Reproducibility and transparency can help others evaluate methods and data, while uncertainty statements show how strongly evidence supports a conclusion. These practices do not mean every field can repeat an experiment exactly, or that a single study settles a policy question. Agencies must account for privacy, security, proprietary data and research ethics when deciding what can be disclosed. Peer review is one quality-control step, not a guarantee that a result is correct.

Scientific-integrity rules also protect researchers from political interference and require agencies to correct material errors. The order’s implementation should be assessed alongside those protections. A requirement for methodological rigor must not become a reason to suppress evidence because it is inconvenient or to present uncertainty as proof that no conclusion is possible. OSTP guidance, agency policies and documented corrections will show how the principles are applied in specific programs.

SignedMay 23, 2025
Lead officialsOSTP Director and agency heads
Express timing30-day guidance; 60-day agency updates

Before and after

Before the order

Agencies used statutory research mandates and scientific-integrity policies, including policies adopted under prior presidential memoranda.

After the order

OSTP issued implementation direction and agencies reviewed policies; the order does not predetermine scientific findings or replace program-specific evidentiary standards.

DOE published an implementation plan for this order's nine science tenets and describes subsequent DOE scientific-integrity directives; the plan does not establish outcomes at all agencies.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
OSTPIssue implementation guidance30 days
AgenciesRevise scientific-integrity policies60 days
AgenciesMaintain transparent correction processesOngoing

What happened next

EO 14303 signed.

Later primary evidence reviewed: DOE published an implementation plan for this order's nine science tenets and describes subsequent DOE scientific-integrity directives; the plan does not establish outcomes at all agencies.