Scientific American Bias and Reliability

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Compare the scores of Scientific American to other sources on our free Interactive Media Bias Chart. Click Here!

Bias: Skews Left

Reliability: Generally Reliable/Analysis OR Other Issues

Overall Score

The following are the overall bias and reliability scores for Scientific American according to our Ad Fontes Media ratings methodology.

Reliability: 33.38

Bias: -11.13

Panels of analysts from Ad Fontes Media regularly review representative sample content to rate it for reliability and bias. Each panel of analysts comprises one left-leaning, one right-leaning, and one center-leaning analyst.

The team considers a variety of factors when rating content. To determine its reliability score, we consider the content’s veracity, expression, its title/headline, and graphics. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the sample content’s overall reliability score.

To determine sample content’s bias score, we consider its language, its political position, and how it compares to other reporting or analysis from other sources on the same topic. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the content’s overall bias score.

The bias rating, demonstrated on the Media Bias Chart®️ on the horizontal axis, ranges from most extreme left to middle to most extreme right. The reliability rating, demonstrated on the chart’s vertical axis, rates sources on a scale from original fact reporting to analysis, opinion, propaganda and inaccurate/fabricated information.

Reliability scores for articles and shows are on a scale of 0-64. Scores above 40 are generally good; scores below 24 are generally problematic. Scores between 24-40 indicate a range of possibilities, with some sources falling there because they are heavy in opinion and analysis, and some because they have a high variation in reliability between articles.

Bias scores for articles and shows are on a scale of -42 to +42, with higher negative scores being more left, higher positive scores being more right, and scores closer to zero being minimally biased, equally balanced, or exhibiting a centrist bias.

Individual Content Sample Scores

These are the most recent content samples that Ad Fontes Media analysts have rated for this source.

Content Sample URL Bias Reliability
Whales Are Dying but Not from Offshore Wind -9.33 28.67
Vote for Kamala Harris to Support Science, Health and the Environment -19 15
What Humans Lose When AI Writes for Us 0 46
Summers Are Hotter than Ever and Are Only Going to Get Worse -3.67 44.67
Hawaii Has Permafrost, and Scientists Are Racing to Study It before It’s Gone -6.33 42.67
More Frequent Dust Storms Could Be in Our Future -5.67 41
Fascism’s History Offers Lessons about Today’s Attacks on Education -21 20.67
Damar Hamlin’s Collapse Highlights the Violence Black Men Experience in Football -13.67 21
Chemical Health Risks from the Ohio Train Accident—What We Know So Far -0.67 45
Deforestation and Its Extreme Effect on Global Warming -3.67 43.33
The Ethics of Sending Humans to Mars -10.67 37.33
How Dangerous Is the Delta Variant, and Will It Cause a COVID Surge in the U.S.? -1.67 42
Nutrition, the Immune System and a Global Pandemic 0 49
Deleted Coronavirus Genome Sequences Trigger Scientific Intrigue 0 48
The Animal Viruses Most Likely to Jump into Humans 0 50
Psychiatry Needs to Get Right with God 0 39.67
The COVID Lab-Leak Hypothesis: What Scientists Do and Do Not Know 0 44.33
New Radioactivity Measurement Could Boost Precision of Dark Matter Experiments 0 40.67
Experts Weigh In on Pentagon UFO Report 0 41.67
We’re Overlooking a Major Culprit in the Opioid Crisis 0 37
Pesticides Are Killing the World’s Soils 0 43.67
U.S. Officially Rejoins Paris Climate Agreement -7 44
The Most Accurate Flat Map of Earth Yet 0 44
Physicists Need to Be More Careful with How They Name Things -4 43.33
Evolution Could Explain Why Psychotherapy May Work for Depression 0 46.67

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