Communication within organizations is essential. In this context, there are public universities, whose character of inseparability between teaching, research and extension, due to their nature of different publics, the relationship with countless other stakeholders and direct impact on society, among other reasons, has communication as a fundamental part of its structure. And the scientific dissemination, based on the principles of public communication of science (PCS), assumes a decisive role in communication between university and society, especially in a scenario marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, by processes of disinformation and the need to reaffirm the importance of universities in the public debate. Therefore, this work aims to understand the panorama of public communication of science and scientific dissemination carried out by public universities (federal and state) located in southern Brazil, from their central communication structures. After a bibliographic review in the field of organizational communication, public communication, public communication of science, scientific dissemination and communication in/from universities, the research methodology is developed through a qualitative research, having as research techniques document analysis, descriptive and exploratory research and in-depth interviews. Twenty public universities (federal and state) located in the south of Brazil were analyzed regarding their Institutional Development Plans (PDIs), Communication Policies, actions developed and the perception of managers, communication professionals and coordinators of actions in relation to the theme. The results indicate that there is still a way to go in the institutionalization and development of actions in this area. Only four of the analyzed universities have scientific dissemination related more strategic and systematic way with the area of communication in their PDIs (compared to the others); only seven have a Communication Policy; and five develop specific and systematized projects of scientific dissemination from their central communication structures, in addition to another university whose project is centered on the Dean of Extension and Culture. Also, there is not necessarily a correspondence between institutionalization through documents (PDIs and Policies) and the development of actions. Finally, the interviews point to multiple challenges, such as little staff structure, high flow of demands, "competition" with other dissemination areas and demands of universities' political managements, specificities in the production of scientific dissemination contents, challenges in the context of new media and narratives, and the need to institutionalize communication. The interviews also point to the recognition of the importance of scientific dissemination and public communication of science, despite the great challenges of putting them into practice, especially with regard to the CPC.