Scientific consensus

Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the vast majority of active, qualified experts on a conclusion in a specific scientific discipline. Scientific consensus results from the self-correcting scientific process of peer review, replication of the event through the scientific method, scholarly debate, meta-analysis, and publication of high-quality review articles, monographs, or guidelines in reputable books and journals to establish facts and durable knowledge about the topic.

Reaching consensus requires significant scientific agreement among qualified experts, a process based on scientific substantiation of a claim that meets the burden of proof by proposing a possible cause-and-effect mechanism supported by the totality of evidence, leading to agreement among experts. In many countries, scientific consensus established on significant scientific agreement is the basis for regulatory approval of drugs to specify a health claim for the properties of the approved therapeutic agent.

Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at conferences, the publication process, replication of reproducible results by others, debate, and peer review. A conference meant to create a consensus is called a consensus conference. Such measures within a discipline can establish a consensus, although communicating to the lay public that consensus exists may be difficult because the "normal" debates toward gaining consensus may appear to outsiders as revealing uncertainty.