As a controversial scientific issue, global warming has received certain public attention in China, particularly in the online discussion circumstances. Employing content analysis, this study examined the public discussions of global warming on online forums from 2012 to 2017 in China, investigating the ways of discussion as well as discourse quality. The purpose of the study is to better understand whether and how public participation in discussing controversial scientific issues can facilitate public understanding science, helping our society in communicating controversial scientific issues as well as enhancing public engagement in science in China.

global warming  /  public engagement  /  online forum