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I'm starting a #Mastodon thread on the new #Trump administration's actions and positions on #OpenAccess to research.

I posted frequently about the actions of his first administration. But I did it on #Twitter / #X, which I no longer use.

Also see this wiki page where I'm collecting my old Twitter posts on his first term and my new Mastodon posts on his second term.
cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/The_Tru…

For updates, watch this space.

#OpenWashing #OSTP #ScholComm #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. Here's a good use of #GitHub to track textual changes and page takedowns on federal govt web sites since #Trump took office.
404media.co/github-is-showing-…

This project is dedicated to the pages on #DEI. I hope someone launches a similar project on the pages dedicated to science and research.

#Censorship #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "For the first time in its more than 60-year history, the #CDC's [#OpenAccess] Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (#MMWR) did not go out as scheduled because of a communications pause at federal health agencies issued by the #Trump administration."
medpagetoday.com/infectiousdis…

#Censorship #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. As recently as January 2, 2025, #NASA had five modules for teaching #OpenScience on its web site. The #Trump administration has taken them down.
science.nasa.gov/open-science/…

Here they are in the @internetarchive Wayback Machine.
web.archive.org/web/2025010214…

#Takedowns #TrumpAntiScience #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. If you're following this thread, also follow the Silencing Science Tracker from Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (at Columbia Law School) and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.
climate.law.columbia.edu/Silen…

#Climate #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Datasets aggregated on data.gov, the largest repository of U.S. government #OpenData on the internet, are being deleted, according to the website’s own information. Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, more than 2,000 datasets have disappeared from the database."
404media.co/archivists-work-to…

#Data #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "#USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites"
politico.com/news/2025/01/31/u…

"Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites and document climate change references for further review, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO...."

#Agriculture #Censorship #Climate #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. I just posted an item outside this thread that belongs in the thread. Sorry. Here it is. The #Trump #CDC is asking staffers to withdraw pending scientific publications that use newly-prohibited terms like #transgender, #immigrant, or #LGBT.
fediscience.org/@petersuber/11…

#Censorship #ScholComm #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Top advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [#CDC] are asking the agency’s acting director to explain the abrupt removal of information and data from CDC websites, and say when it will be restored. In a sharply worded letter sent Saturday, the group asked Acting Director Susan Monarez what the rationale was for removing the data, if the consequences and legal authority of such a decision were considered, what was being done to safeguard the data sets that were removed, and when access to them would return. The letter asks for answers by Feb. 7."
archive.is/SWhYj

The CDC advisory board was disbanded by Trump in 2019 and revived by Biden in 2021. The members "expect to be fired" for asking the agency to explain and reverse the takedowns.

#Censorship #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, Doctors for America filed a #lawsuit today [Feb 4] against the Office of Personnel Management (#OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (#CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (#FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (#HHS) for the removal of a broad range of #health-related data and other information used by health professionals and researchers from publicly accessible government websites."
citizen.org/news/doctors-for-a…

#Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update, on the #CDC order directing staffers to retract pending journal articles that use now-prohibited terms like #transgender and #immigrant (earlier in this thread) …

Bravo to the #BMJ (@bmj_latest) for calling this order "sinister and ludicrous."
bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r253

"This is not how it works. Medically relevant terminology and inclusive language follow evidence based reporting standards or are matters of individual journal style and policy. They do not follow political orders. Similarly, co-authors cannot simply scrub themselves from articles. Authorship gives credit and accountability for the work, and an article’s list of authors does not ghost contributors. If authors wish to withdraw submissions under review at a journal, this process is feasible should all of their co-authors agree. However, if somebody who merits inclusion in the authorship group of an article requests to be removed, even with the approval of the co-authors, this is a breach of publication ethics."

#Authorship #Retractions #ScholComm #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. Here's an online tool from #BradleyAllf to help you publish research in the #Trump age, especially if you're a US govt scientist. Just paste in your abstract and it will underline the banned words.
brad7280.github.io/thoughtcrim…

#Censorship #ReviseAndResubmit #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. The #BMJ isn't the only journal pushing back against the #CDC directive that staff scientists should retract pending publications that use Trump-banned words. (Earlier in this thread.)

Kudos to the _American Journal of Public Health_ (#AJPH) for pushing back as well.
medpagetoday.com/special-repor…

From publisher Georges Benjamin: "We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language. We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." Benjamin acknowledged that the journal may now get fewer submissions from government scientists.

AJPH is published by the American Public Health Association (#APHA).

#Censorship #Medicine #ScholComm #SocietyPublisher #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. If you're following this thread, you might also follow Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to #Trump Administration Actions, from #JustSecurity.
justsecurity.org/107087/tracke…

#USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. The Dept of Defense (#DOD) just released the implementation plan for its upgraded #OpenAccess policy under the Biden-era #OSTP #NelsonMemo.
discover.dtic.mil/wp-content/u…

This is the first fed agency action of its kind since #Trump took office. Note that, so far, this work has not stopped or changed.

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Update. "White House budget proposal could shatter the National Science Foundation"
arstechnica.com/science/2025/0…

" 'This kind of cut would kill American science and boost #China and other nations into global science leadership positions,' [said] Neal Lane, who led the #NSF in the 1990s during Bill Clinton's presidency."

PS: I've never liked #nationalist arguments for funding or fostering science. Science is international. But the #Trump admin is putting us in a dilemma. Either we see deep cuts in US science funding. Or we use nationalist arguments to avert those cuts.

There are non-nationalist arguments to fund US science. For example, good science is usually expensive and those who do it well should be funded for the benefit of all. Unfortunately that argument is not likely to work on Trump admin officials. It's not US-specific and applies everywhere, even in China.

#Nationalism #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Trump officials exerting unprecedented control over CDC scientific journal"
cbsnews.com/news/trump-officia…

"Trump administration political appointees have taken steps in recent weeks to exert unprecedented influence over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's flagship medical research publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, multiple federal health officials tell CBS News. The interference included dictating what to cover and withholding studies on the growing bird flu outbreak."

PS: Just curious. How do Trump officials decide that covering bird flu is bad for their agenda?

#Medicine #ScholComm #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Over at @deltathink, Dan Pollock and Ann Michael estimate the impact of #Trump executive actions on academic publishing, starting with the #CDC.
deltathink.com/news-views-spec…

"The proportion of CDC-authored papers is tiny [0.1% of global output and 0.6% of US output], and so their suppression is unlikely to lead to a drop in publishing output. However, should the orders spread to other areas of health research, then the effects could be profound – especially for journals and publishers relying heavily on US-authored papers."

#Censorship #USPol #USPolitics

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Update The #Trump admin has taken down the #OSTP #NelsonMemo.

It was formerly at this URL.
whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uplo…

You can still find it in the @internetarchive #WaybackMachine, as recently as Jan 18, 2025.
web.archive.org/web/2025011802…

We can't tell yet whether it was taken down because Trump officials didn't like the #OpenAccess policies it laid out, didn't like its use of #DEI language — or both.

h/t fediscience.org/@jnonfiction@s…

#Censorship #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "In the initial days of the #Trump administration, officials scoured federal websites for any mention of what they deemed #DEI keywords — terms as generic as “diverse” and “historically” and even “women.” They soon identified reams of some of the country’s most valuable public health data containing some of the targeted words, including language about LGBTQ+ people, and quickly took down much of it — from surveys on obesity and suicide rates to real-time reports on immediate infectious disease threats like bird flu."
vox.com/future-perfect/399319/…

#Censorship #Medicine #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "The White House has designated Mr. #Musk’s office, United States #DOGE Service, as an entity insulated from public records requests."
nytimes.com/2025/02/10/us/poli…

In Nov 2024 before Musk joined the #Trump government, he wrote on X / Twitter: "There should be no need for FOIA requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency."
x.com/elonmusk/status/18530796…

#FOAI #Secrecy #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Court Orders #CDC, #FDA to Restore Scrubbed Webpages, Data"
medpagetoday.com/washington-wa…

"A federal judge on Tuesday ordered government agencies to restore public access to health-related webpages and datasets that they removed to comply with an executive order by President #Trump…The scrubbed material includes reports on HIV prevention, a CDC webpage for providing clinicians with guidance on reproductive healthcare, and an FDA study on 'sex differences in the clinical evaluation of medical products.'"

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Litigation #Medicine #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. From @hildabast: "What if We Can’t Rely on PubMed?"
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/…

"#PubMed is incredibly reliable…That said, between the risks of an exodus of key personnel, understaffing, or goodness-knows-what vandalism when a goon squad arrives at NIH, it’s not paranoid any more to think ahead to the once-unthinkable. What would PubMed enshittification look like? Could PubMed go down more often, and for longer? Might services no longer be free? How else could the #quality and #reliability of its services be degraded?"

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "The Trump Administration Is Targeting Science. The Scientific Integrity Act Could Help Protect It."
blog.ucsusa.org/kellickson/the…

"The Scientific Integrity Act (#SI Act) is a bipartisan bill re-introduced on February 6th in the US House of Representatives… [It] would include language prohibiting scientific or research misconduct; preventing intimidation or attempted coercion to alter or censor scientific or technical findings; and allowing public dissemination of scientific and technical findings…It would ensure that scientific conclusions are not made based on political considerations but based on the best available science."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Legislation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "The #Trump administration and Elon #Musk are reportedly taking aim at #NOAA, the agency responsible for the National Weather Service and many other crucial functions."
fastcompany.com/91274927/trump…

"#Project2025 specifically noted NOAA as a target, as well. The Heritage Foundation’s 900-page right-wing playbook called the agency “one of the main drivers of the #climate change alarm industry” and recommended it be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated” and instead #privatized. It’s not clear what that would look like, though experts have said it isn’t a good idea—and that private weather companies wouldn’t even want that change because they’d have to bear the cost of collecting weather data that’s currently given to them for free."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Science at Risk: Protect #NOAA"
secure.ucsusa.org/a/2025-prote…

I just signed this open letter from @ucsusa and hope you will too.

"Scientists and other experts: Add your name to this open letter calling on Congress and the #Trump administration to ensure that NOAA and its sub-agencies remain fully funded and staffed, and that the independent, trusted science the agency produces is protected."

#Climate #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Join the Organizing Team for Your Local Stand Up For Science Rally!"
airtable.com/app4h5wUssMGXxiaX…

#DefendResearch #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. I applaud this open letter from 48 US scientific societies to US researchers, educators, and academics.
unitedsciencealliance.org/

"Today, science is under threat…We need scientific research to support the health and safety of people and our planet. We need policy decisions that are grounded in research and data…We will champion scientific integrity, including academic freedom, the inclusion of diverse perspectives, and policies grounded in scientific evidence…Scientific truths are nonpartisan. It has never been more important to recommit to scientific knowledge, and to ensure you have access to data, are free from censorship, and are able to do your valuable work."

#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

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Update. "This position is a response to concerns raised regarding prohibition of specific terminology, and restrictions on researchers’ activities and collaborations. #COPE [Committee on Publication Ethics] considers that authors and editors are best placed to determine the appropriate language to be used in their respective fields, to ensure that research is communicated appropriately…COPE supports the World Association of Medical Editors (#WAME)’s statement that editorial decisions must remain unaffected by the authors’ nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion. Publication choices should not be swayed by external governmental policies, unless compliance with applicable laws is at stake.”
publicationethics.org/guidance…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. The Union of Concerned Scientists (#UCS, @ucsusa) just released this open letter to Congress. I signed and hope you will too.
secure.ucsusa.org/a/2024-save-…

"I am asking you to defend the science and scientists that keep Americans safe. The Trump administration's current agenda is eviscerating the protections that Americans count on and support: clean air and water; safe food and medicine; products that won't harm us; and protection from extreme weather and other damaging effects of climate change…Protecting rigorous and independent science is a common-sense, nonpartisan goal."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. Kathleen Bachynski and Martin McKee argue that #Trump cuts to medical research and ongoing clinical trials violate the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki on Research Ethics and the 1979 Belmont Report on Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research.
bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r289

#DefendResearch #Ethics #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Join academic workers across the country in fighting restrictions on research - Feb. 19th Rally."
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

"For the last three weeks, we have seen unprecedented attacks on science that have severely impacted our day-to-day work as scientists, researchers, and clinicians - funding that sustains critical scientific research to improve human health has been dramatically cut, research is being censored, and scientists are losing their jobs…The work we do is a public good and essential for the health of each and every American, now and in the future. We must fight to save science so we can continue doing the work that keeps Americans healthy."

h/t @ClimateJenny

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. @juddlegum and #RebeccaCrosby provide more evidence that the #Trump team is taking down valuable govt pages — this time #OSHA pages on workplace safety — that use #DEI language in ways that have nothing to do with the kind of DEI Trumpists oppose.
popular.info/p/in-botched-dei-…

For example, they're taking down pages that refer to "diversity of state-specific…regulatory requirements" and "diverse conditions under which EMS responders could work."

PS: It's no accident that this might remind you of the brainless firing of US nuclear security staffers, which Trumpists are still trying to reverse. Autopilot ransacking.
nytimes.com/2025/02/16/us/poli…

#BrainlessKeywordSearching #Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. US space scientists have written an open letter to #NASA and #Congress.
sites.google.com/view/space-sc…

"Almost all of our work as space scientists is funded by U.S. taxpayers, and we have a responsibility to oppose actions that limit the reach of our work to the public… Following NASA’s request, all AG [Analysis/Assessment Group] websites and the important, labor-intensive study reports, science goals documents, and other resources hosted on those websites are indefinitely unavailable to the communities who did this work and to the general public…We ask that all those in decision-making positions unequivocally condemn and act to reverse recent attacks on scientific integrity, federal grant funding for scientific research, and initiatives that broaden public participation in science."

PS: Also see the list of similar letters growing the left sidebar.

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. From @alicejmeadows: "Declaration To #DefendResearch Against US Government Censorship"
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/20…

"Much of the resistance to the Trump administration’s efforts to censor research and researchers is happening at the grassroots level, including this Declaration To Defend Research Against US Government Censorship, instigated by Lisa Schiff, together with Catherine Mitchell, Sara Rouhi, Peter Suber, and myself [Alice Meadows]. Like many of those who are protesting against these growing threats to research, we are acting in a personal capacity, rather than on behalf of our organizations. As members of the scholarly communication community, we believe that researchers must be freely able to conduct, collaborate on, share, review, and discuss their research…I very much hope that you’ll join the 1,000 plus who have already signed."

#Censorship #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. From @mayank_mchugh and @JACoates at @force11: "Science is Under Siege: The Open Science Community Must Act and Lead by Example"
upstream.force11.org/open-scie…

"The new US administration has thrown the entire academy into chaos, threatening global health. This article is a call for the #OpenScience community to practice what it preaches and lead by example in defending science…The only viable line of defence against such rapid and intense attacks is transparency and a heightened rigour. And it is here that the open science community has a unique and essential role in this very moment."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Defend Scientific Freedom and Integrity Against Political Suppression."
change.org/p/defend-scientific…

I just signed this petition and hope you will too.

"We call on governments, funding bodies, academic institutions, and international organizations to:
1. Protect Scientific Freedom: Ensure that research funding decisions are made based on scientific merit, not political ideology.
2. Stop Censorship in Public Health and Environmental Science: Allow government scientists to communicate freely with the public and publish research without political interference.
3. Preserve Open Access to Data: Governments must not delete, withhold, or manipulate scientific data that serves the public good...."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Special thanks to the Association of University Presses (#AUPresses, @aupresses). It not only signed the Feb 13 Declaration to #DefendResearch, it posted an announcement to spread the word.
aupresses.org/news/aupresses-s…

#Censorship #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. Although the #Trump admin is firing scientists, "some science leaders argued [that it's] not specifically targeting research. 'Science seems to be collateral damage to these [downsizing] efforts that are almost random, by date of hire or date of promotion,' says Sudip Parikh, CEO of #AAAS…'It’s not strategic. It’s not based on the needs of the future, the needs of science.'"

PS: My take: Some of the destruction targets research he opposes for political reasons, like #climate research. But much of the rest is semi-random pillaging to show numbers (positions cut, dollars saved). This is evident from the growing number of firings, in a growing number of departments, that Trump and #Musk later try to rescind.

#DefendResearch #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Journalism organizations call for restoration of public data."
nasw.org/article/journalism-or…

"Leaders of five #journalism organizations, including the National Association of Science Writers and representing more than 7,000 members in the United States and abroad, sent the following letter to the heads of eight U.S. federal agencies that have recently removed public datasets and databases funded by Americans’ tax dollars."

#Censorship #Data #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Outcry as Trump withdraws support for research that mentions ‘climate’ "
theguardian.com/environment/20…

"The #Trump administration is stripping away support for scientific research in the US and overseas that contains a word it finds particularly inconvenient: “climate”…Trump, who has said that the climate crisis is a “giant hoax”, has already stripped mentions of climate change and global heating from government websites."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "PLOS [@PLOS] statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity"
theplosblog.plos.org/2025/02/p…

"We are deeply concerned about a range of recent US Executive Orders that collectively have the potential to dismantle the US scientific enterprise as it has existed for the past 70 years…We will not approve changes to terminology or removal of data that compromise the scientific accuracy of content. Requests to remove legitimate authors from manuscripts violate our authorship policies which are grounded in principles of credit, accountability and transparency…We are actively working to understand the evolving implications of these directives and the disruption they have brought…We remain dedicated to the advancement of #OpenScience."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #PLOS #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. From @neuralreckoning: "Science must step away from nationally managed infrastructure"
thetransmitter.org/policy/scie…

"Scientific data and independence are at risk. We need to work with community-driven services and university libraries to create new multi-country organizations that are resilient to political interference."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenInfrastructure #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. From @karenhao: "The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled"
technologyreview.com/2025/02/2…

"[Scientists] warn that dismantling the behind-the-scenes scientific research programs that backstop American life could lead to long-lasting, perhaps irreparable damage to everything from the quality of health care to the public’s access to next-generation consumer technologies. The US took nearly a century to craft its rich scientific ecosystem; if the unraveling that has taken place over the past month continues, Americans will feel the effects for decades to come."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (#ICMJE) has updated its guidance in light of recent actions by the #Trump administration.
icmje.org/news-and-editorials/…

"If authors request removal or addition of an author after manuscript submission or publication, journal editors should seek an explanation and signed statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors including the author to be removed or added…Corrections are warranted for errors of fact that should have been recognized at the time of publication. Matters of debate and evolving science and methods are not errors. Retraction of published work is generally reserved for errors serious enough to invalidate results and conclusions and/or when there is scientific misconduct.."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #ScholComm #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Reflections on the Current Moment from SSP’s Board of Directors"
sspnet.org/community/news/stat…

"The challenges stemming from a shifting U.S. political landscape, which threaten academic freedom, #DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) initiatives, the scholarly record, and federal research funding, are affecting the Society for Scholarly Publishing (#SSP) community in multiple ways: mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially…Since we were established in 1978, SSP has intentionally demonstrated an unwavering commitment to building a diverse and inclusive community. We actively infuse our work with equitable values, including providing leadership as a founding member of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing (#C4DISC)."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #DEI #ScholComm #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Will medical publishers fight Trump’s war on 'woke'?"
thebookseller.com/comment/will…

"Although many medical journal #editors have made their position known, medical #publishers are, for now, conspicuously silent…The collective resolve of the medical publishing industry is being put to the test. This is an opportunity for the industry to affirm its commitment to safeguard the scholarly record from ideological distortion. #Censorship in health research affects us all. We share a responsibility to stand firm and decry Trump’s war on "gender ideology" as a full-scale assault on the scientific method."

#DefendResearch #Journals #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Statement from #TheLancet in response to recent US executive orders
thelancet.com/editorial-polici…

"The Lancet Group will be making no changes to our editorial policies regarding withdrawal, authorship change, inclusive language, or retraction. Ahead of publication, the withdrawal of submitted papers and authorship changes will only generally be considered if the written agreement of all authors is received. The Lancet Group will continue to recommend the use of inclusive language, accepting authors’ ultimate choice of terminology when it is scientifically accurate and respectful, and will continue to encourage authors to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) reporting guidelines. Published papers will only be corrected or retracted when they contain factual errors or if scientific misconduct has taken place. These policies are in line with recently issued guidance from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors [#ICMJE]."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #DEI #Medicine #ScholComm #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Farmers Sue Over Deletion of Climate Data From Government Websites"
nytimes.com/2025/02/24/climate…

"Organic farmers and environmental groups sued the Agriculture Department on Monday over its scrubbing of references to #climate change from its website…That included websites containing data sets, interactive tools and funding information that farmers and researchers relied on for planning and adaptation projects, according to the lawsuit…Peter Lehner, a lawyer for #Earthjustice, said the pages being purged were crucial for farmers facing risks linked to climate change, including heat waves, droughts, floods, extreme weather and wildfires."

#Agriculture #Censorship #DefendResearch #Litigation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "On March 7, 2025, we [Stand Up For Science] rally [in Washington DC] to defend science as a public good…We call on policymakers, institutions, and the scientific community to uphold the integrity of science, protect its accessibility, and ensure its benefits serve all people. To achieve this, we seek the following policy actions.
1. Secure and Expand Scientific Funding…
2. End Censorship and Political Interference in Science…
3. Defend Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Science."
standupforscience2025.org/our-…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #DEI #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "The National Archives is nonpartisan but has found itself targeted by Trump."
apnews.com/article/trump-natio…

"The president didn’t give a public reason for firing archivist Colleen Shogan, but he has long held a grudge against the agency for notifying the Justice Department of his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office following his first term…A Trump-aligned archivist might also be less inclined to enforce the Presidential Records Act or ask questions if Trump leaves office with troves of classified documents, said Norm Eisen, executive chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #NARA #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Will They Come for PubMed Next?"
medpagetoday.com/opinion/secon…

"PubMed is the backbone of biomedical research in the U.S. That's not an exaggeration…However, there are reasons to be extremely concerned about its continued existence…There are [at least five] ways the administration could interfere with PubMed."

PS: Although the author mixes up #PubMed and #PubMedCentral, her concerns apply to both.

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "The Rise (and Fall?) of the National Science Foundation"
chronicle.com/article/the-rise…
(#paywalled)

"The #Trump administration’s assault on the #NSF represents precisely the kind of political interference [#VannevarBush] sought to prevent — one that threatens not only scientific progress but also the very foundation of academic freedom."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. "Déclaration visant à défendre la recherche contre la censure du gouvernement américain"
redactionmedicale.fr/2025/02/d…

Thanks to Herve Maisonneuve for his French translation of the key recommendations of the Feb 13 Declaration To Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship. He adds this good conclusion: "We are free to consider that these initiatives are useless… but [signing them] allows us to support colleagues who cannot express themselves in public."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. Thanks to @georgetown for making this public statement.
president.georgetown.edu/messa…

"I know that the rapidly evolving external environment is unsettling to many in the community. Some of us have received directives to stop our research activities; some of our students have had job offerings rescinded; some have read repeated external communications that question the value of their work…We promote scholarship freely based on inquiring minds…We do not conduct these activities alongside our mission; they are the essence of our mission…Be assured that we are actively tracking all developments as they occur, assessing whether they affect our mission’s work, quickly partnering with those community members affected, and supporting them as they navigate change."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. A new editorial in Nature: "Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere."
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"How, then, should those of us who are part of the global enterprise of education, health, science and engineering respond? One priority must be to denounce these actions, to shout about their negative effects, to support researchers and to defend their ability to work and study without fear for their jobs. Understandably, those working at — or even leading — federal agencies might feel that they cannot speak up, but researchers at other organizations, such as universities, scientific societies, businesses, labour unions and campaign groups have more freedom, and must exercise it by showing support for affected colleagues."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Reminder from #Trump's first term (2017): Trump’s budget director pick: “Do we really need government-funded research at all”
vox.com/science-and-health/201…

"President Donald #Trump recently picked Rep. Mick #Mulvaney…to head the White House’s Office of Management and Budget [#OMB]…In a stunning September 9 Facebook post (that’s since been deleted but is still cached), Mulvaney asked, '... what might be the best question: do we really need government funded research at all.'"

#DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. "CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel"
huffpost.com/entry/cdc-who-pub…

"Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [#CDC] have been prohibited from co-authoring publications with World Health Organization [#WHO] staff, dealing a blow to global research efforts and continuing the #Trump administration’s aggressive attack on government-funded science."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. The #NIH web site is down.
nih.gov/

It's been up and down, but mostly down, since before noon yesterday.
downdetector.com/status/nih/

I don't know what's going on but will post updates as I find them.

#DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "RFK Jr. issues rule barring public comment on #HHS rulemaking"
thehill.com/policy/healthcare/…

"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday released a policy prohibiting public comments during his department’s rulemaking process, ending more than 50 years of the public’s involvement in crafting his department’s rules…After assuming office, Kennedy had vowed to usher in “radical transparency” at the HHS…Lawrence O. Gostin, faculty director of O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center…speculated that Kennedy was rescinding public comments in order to quickly “ram through” radical changes to health care, public health and scientific research in the U.S."

#DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. The #NIH site is back up.
nih.gov/

The reports of it being down have plummeted to near zero.
downdetector.com/status/nih/

But I'm still looking for a good explanation of what happened.

#Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Therese Choquette ran searches on #PubMed and may have found gaps corresponding to terms banned by the #Trump admin.
linkedin.com/posts/therese-cho…

PS: Unfortunately she compared US PubMed with Europe PubMed Central, which is apples to oranges. (PubMed is metadata-only and PMC is full text.) Can we crowdsource some systematic searches comparing (1) PubMed now with PubMed before Trump, e.g. in the Wayback Machine, and (2) US PMC with Europe PMC?

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science"
ucsusa.org/about/news/scientis…

"[48] scientific societies…representing almost 100,000 scientists from diverse disciplines, have sent a letter, organized by the #UCS, to members of Congress demanding that they protect federally funded scientific research and federal scientists. The letter is open so the number of signers may continue to grow."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Here's the open letter mentioned in the previous post (this thread).
ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.ama…

"We, the undersigned professional scientific societies, associations, and organizations, are writing to ask you to take immediate action to protect and restore life-saving and essential scientific research that…[is] funded by American taxpayers and authorized by Congress and cannot be unilaterally halted by the executive branch."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. It's just a coincidence that the newer open letter to Congress in the previous post, this thread (nd but approx March 3) …
ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.ama…

… and this older letter (nd but approx Feb 17) …
unitedsciencealliance.org/

… were both initially signed by 48 scientific societies. They're different letters, organized by different groups, and signed by (mostly) different societies.

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. The American Physical Society (#APS, @apsphysics) is running a survey on the impact of cuts to US science #funding. Please take it if you're affected or likely to be affected.
apsphysics.fillout.com/t/6ESUv…

"This survey collects stories showcasing the transformative positive impact of #NSF, #NIST, #DOE, #NASA, and #DOD-funded research and programs as well as what would be lost if support for basic research evaporates. You can document your experiences and share how recent executive actions have impacted you. Individual stories will be only be used publicly with permission or when fully anonymized."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "US science is under threat ― now scientists are fighting back"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"The courts temporarily halted some of the Trump administration’s orders, but a coherent message has broken through: federal support for science is in danger. Gradually, scientists began to stir, Varga says: “They’re realizing now that doing any one thing is better than doing nothing.” That activism is taking many forms...."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "‘Omg, did #PubMed go dark?’ Blackout stokes fears about database’s future"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"The NIH told Nature in an e-mail that, on 1 March 'some of NIH public-web services experienced service disruptions' but all services were restored on 2 March. 'NIH is committed to resilient and open access to PubMed and other NIH web services,' the team wrote. But [Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious-diseases physician] says any disruption — even if temporary — raises concerns about how researchers access essential scientific information. 'It also serves as a reminder of the need for contingency plans, such as alternative #repositories or offline access to critical research, to ensure that health-care providers and researchers are not left without crucial information when they need it most,' she says."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #OpenInfrastructure #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "EDGI Relaunches Federal Environmental Web Tracker"
envirodatagov.org/press-releas…

"In response to the #Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of federal websites, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (#EDGI) has relaunched its Federal Environmental Web Tracker…The… Tracker makes records of significant changes to federal environmental websites publicly available in a searchable database…Since the first Trump administration, EDGI has monitored thousands of federal environmental webpages. Partners at the #InternetArchive download these webpages every day, and EDGI’s #OpenSource software compares versions of these webpages to identify differences."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Environment #Monitoring #Preservation #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. Kudos to Aix Marseille University (@univamu_europe), for funding "American Scientists Who Fear #Trump #Censorship"
404media.co/french-university-…

"A leading French university is inviting American scientists who fear their research on subjects like #climate might be censored by Donald Trump’s administration to do their work in France. The program is called ‘safe place for science,’ and will provide 15 million Euros in funding for some 15 researchers over a 3-year period…It targets, but is not limited to, climate and environment, health, and human and social sciences."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics

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This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. "‘Scientists will not be silenced’: thousands protest Trump research cuts"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"Thousands of researchers and supporters of science protested in cities across the US and Europe today against actions taken by the administration of US President Donald #Trump to cut the US scientific workforce and slash spending on research worldwide…Marie Walde, a biophysicist at the Roscoff Biological Station in France, posted about a rally she attended…saying: “In solidarity with our colleagues in the US, researchers and citizens all over France are protesting today for science and knowledge as a public good.” … Since taking office in January, Trump and his team have laid off, and in some cases then tried to rehire, thousands from US science agencies, whose jobs touched on nuclear safety, bird flu surveillance, extreme-weather forecasting and more."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. Selected additional coverage of the March 7 Stand Up For Science rally in Washington and across the country:

Scientists Are Rising Up to Resist Trump Policies, Inside Climate News, March 6
insideclimatenews.org/news/060…

‘Enough is enough’: Scientists from UCLA, USC protest Trump’s policy changes, LA Times, March 7
latimes.com/environment/story/…

Thousands gather across U.S. and world in Stand Up for Science events, Science, March 7
science.org/content/article/th…

Out of the lab and into the streets, researchers and doctors rally for science against Trump cuts, AP, March 7
apnews.com/article/science-doc…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "USDA’s Purge of #Climate #Data is Illegal and Reckless, Doing Immediate Harm to Farmers, Lawsuit Alleges"
insideclimatenews.org/news/050…

"The #Trump administration has deleted thousands of climate-related web pages from the U.S. Department of #Agriculture’s (#USDA) website, stripping #farmers of critical resources as droughts, floods and shifting growing conditions intensify. Now, a coalition of environmental and farming groups is suing to get that information back, arguing that the purge is not just reckless but illegal."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration"
nytimes.com/interactive/2025/0…

"The above terms appeared in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents viewed by The New York Times. Some [agencies] ordered the removal of these words from public-facing websites, or ordered the elimination of other materials (including school curricula) in which they might be included…The presence of some terms was used to automatically flag for review some grant proposals and contracts that could conflict with Mr. #Trump’s executive orders. The list is most likely incomplete. More agency memos may exist than those seen by New York Times reporters, and some directives are vague or suggest what language might be impermissible without flatly stating it."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. From @chrischirp: "Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities"
christinapagel.substack.com/p/…

"Making a list of the actions taken since January 2025 reveals distinct patterns. Just as the administration’s actions as a whole are following an authoritarian playbook, so are the specific ways they are attacking science. I’ve displayed 35 distinct actions in the Venn Diagram below (table of actions with links), grouped into three main categories:
[1] Control of science to align with state ideology; [2] Undermining the independence of universities / suppressing dissent; [3] Maintaining geopolitical / economic goals."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. #ActionLab is a #crowdsourced collection of practical actions "for the various issues scientists are facing in the wake of destructive anti-science policies. Filter our database by action type, by location, by deadline, or by the amount of time you have to spend today. Find a way to act that is right for you."
airtable.com/apppMymixtqx3yqxa…

Here's the gallery view of the 27 actions posted to date.
airtable.com/apppMymixtqx3yqxa…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

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Update. "#Trump’s next #climate move: Show global warming benefits humanity"
eenews.net/articles/trumps-nex…

"President Donald Trump has long rejected climate science. Now, his administration is grappling with how to assemble a body of federal climate research to show a warming world is benefiting humanity…Proposals include…conducting a hostile review of U.S. and international climate reports, and recruiting a White House-approved list of researchers to produce a National Climate Assessment based on partisan research and industry studies."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Disinformation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
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Update. "How college presidents are quietly resisting federal attacks on higher education"
highereddive.com/news/college-…

"The relative lack of public statements is not a sign of cowardice as some have suggested. It’s that many college presidents have rightly concluded that quiet resistance rather than public protest is a more effective strategy. "

PS: Is quiet resistance working? If so, more power to it. It has to be better than quiet blenching. But does it work better than unquiet resistance? And how would we know?

#Academia #Universities #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. It's not enough for #Trump to …

* nominate #climate denialists to run key agencies like the #EPA and #NOAA
* remove climate-related words from govt web sites
* take down whole climate science sites and datasets
* defund climate research and researchers
* layoff scientists and civil servants with climate expertise
* repeal climate regulations
* eliminate 10 regional EPA offices, including the one in DC
* and plan to replace consensus climate findings with ideological cherrypicking as the foundation for policymaking …

… now his #FBI is freezing the assets of nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity, which have received EPA grants, alleging that they might be guilty of “possible criminal violations” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
newrepublic.com/post/192660/tr…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "US Funding Cuts Imperil Open Infrastructure Globally"
katinamagazine.org/content/art…

"The impacts of funding cuts to research in the US extend far beyond their immediate targets. We see a chain reaction that could indelibly alter the education and research landscape, including the future of open and sustainable research…So what is there to do?… Here are our three specific calls to action…"

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #OpenInfrastructure #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "A Call for Harm Reduction Strategies"
katinamagazine.org/content/art…

"The new US presidential administration has launched an unprecedented assault on research and higher education. This isn’t just collateral damage from wide-ranging realignment of budgets, which would be bad enough, but an orchestrated attack on academic freedom, research funding, and the institutional autonomy that underpins intellectual progress…Resistance is most effective when collective action amplifies individual efforts rather than occurring in isolation. This means fostering more frequent and open dialogue across all sectors of the academic and research community [e.g. #libraries and #publishers]."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

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Update. Survey of US #librarians and #LIS faculty.
coloradomesa.az1.qualtrics.com…

"Recent weeks and months have brought shifts to the pursuit of research across the United States, including funding freezes and budget cuts, executive orders regarding DEIA (and its variants) and other justice-related topics (e.g., environmental justice)…This survey aims to gather the perspectives of academic librarians and LIS-program faculty about the implications of these shifts (and executive orders) on research initiatives and, more broadly, academic freedom, researchers' freedom of thought/speech/expression within academia, and researchers' overall intellectual freedom."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "#Trump Executive Order Targets #IMLS for Closure"
wordsandmoney.com/trump-execut…

"In a March 14 Executive Order, President Donald Trump has targeted seven more federal agencies for permanent closure, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

If some parts of IMLS are "statutorily required" and cannot be shut down by an executive order, the #OMB has seven days to show it.

"EveryLibrary is hosting a petition [to keep IMLS open]…The American Library Association has…weighed in with a statement."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Libraries #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Scientists Say #NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub #mRNA References on Grants"
kffhealthnews.org/news/article…

"National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA #vaccine technology from their grant applications…NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli sent an email across the NIH instructing that any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines be reported up the chain to #HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

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Update. Gary Price (@infodocket) is collecting statements opposing the #Trump admin's attempt to shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS). Thanks, Gary!
infodocket.com/2025/03/17/roun…

#DefendResearch #Libraries #LIS #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of #Trump found"
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…

"A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration…The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Travel #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Foreign interference laws ‘no protection from #Trump edicts’"
timeshighereducation.com/news/…
(#paywalled)

"A memo sent to Australian collaborators in US-funded research projects seeks assurances that they and their institutions have no involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI) initiatives, “environmental justice”, “gender ideology extremism” or “any party that espouses anti-American beliefs”. It asks whether they have received any funding from China, including Confucius Institutes and “non-state actors”, along with Russia, Cuba or Iran. The 36 questions also include queries on how the projects “create measurable benefits” for the US."

#Australia #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "What’s in store for US science as funding bill averts government shutdown"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"The US government averted a shutdown late last week after President Donald #Trump signed into law a spending agreement that is likely to lock in modest cuts to science funding this year. But a larger crisis for science still looms as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress continue to seek massive cuts to the federal budget for 2025 and beyond."

#DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Researchers say the US government tried to erase sexual orientation from their findings"
abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireSt…

"Two California researchers said Friday that a U.S. government health publication instructed them to remove data on sexual orientation from a scientific manuscript that had been accepted for publication… Instead of complying, the researchers withdrew their paper from _Public Health Reports_, the official journal of the U.S. Surgeon General and U.S. Public Health Service."

Also see the blog post by the two co-authors, Tamar Antin and Rachelle Annechino.
criticalpublichealth.org/blog/…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "US conference boycott urged after French scientist deported"
archive.is/Wxwdg

"Academics say they are increasingly wary of travelling to conferences in the US after a French scientist was deported over text messages critical of Donald #Trump’s cuts to research funding … Space scientist Mark Wieczorek [@mrak], director of research at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, part of CNRS, said the situation was “very troubling” and, despite being a dual US-French citizen, he now would “only go to the US for the case of a family emergency”…Given the French scientist in question is a “permanent researcher employed by CNRS”, it is “unlikely that this person is a radicalised terrorist and it is unlikely that their hatred of Trump is greater than mine as a US citizen,” continued Wieczorek."

#DefendResearch #Travel #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

reshared this

in reply to petersuber

@mrak

One alternative is to accelerate the move of international conferences to outside of the US, but that ends up harming foreign US-based scholars here on visas, who now can't travel abroad for fear that their status will be revoked without warning at the border when they return.

Our communities should probably treat this as we did the height of the pandemic, and shift to online events.

Matt Blaze reshared this.

in reply to Matt Blaze

@mattblaze it’s like the pandemic but for one country only.

Get a bit grumpy at the US centric view on this one. Open source and other communities can continue to meet in person.

in reply to Andy McKay

@andymckay Get as grumpy a you want (I am, too), but the simple realty is that the US is a giant gorilla in STEM research. Balkanizing the research world into separate US and non-US communities would be enormously harmful.
in reply to Matt Blaze

Worth noting in my opinion is also how much harm can be done by politics to the universities in quite a short time and how long it takes to recover.
As an example: the University of Göttingen was one of the leading universities worldwide in mathematics, physics and chemistry until 1933, when the nazis forced more than 20% of the academics to leave. It took decades to recover to a state far from the former state.
So the giant gorilla in STEM can disappear quite fast.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Matt Blaze

@mattblaze I don’t know every community, but the open source programming ones often have have large EU conferences.
in reply to Matt Blaze

@mattblaze @mrak I don't know about online conferences. I've spent a good chunk of my career as a remote employee, and it worked, but I don't think I got nearly as much out of online conferences as in-person ones. NDSS did have a few remote presenters this year, but it's probably not a coincidence that none of them were among the people I had follow-up conversations with.
in reply to Andrew C. Dingman

@acdingman @mrak There's no doubt remote is suboptimal. But so is a situation in which half the community is unable to participate because they're rationally afraid to travel to the US (or, if they're noncitizens living here, afraid to travel abroad and have their visas revoked on returning).
in reply to Matt Blaze

@mattblaze @mrak it's the noncitizens living here I worry about most. The current funding situation likely makes it hard for me to get to conferences abroad, but it seems appropriate for problems caused by US policies to fall most heavily on US people -- even if I don't know any US academics who voted for this garbage.
in reply to petersuber

Update. New study: "#NIH investment in drugs approved from 2010 to 2019 was not less than investment by the #pharmaceutical industry, with comparable accounting for basic and applied research, failed clinical trials, and cost of capital or discount rates."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-…

PS: Relevant to (1) #Trump admin cutbacks to NIH #funding and (2) industry #patents and licensing terms on approved drugs.

#Medicine #Pharma

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "Center for Open Science (#COS) Statement on U.S. Executive Orders and the Future of Open Scholarship"
cos.io/about/news/cos-statemen…

"Recent executive orders and shifts in U.S. federal policy pose significant concerns for the research community, including the removal of publicly available data, changes in research governance, and uncertainties around funding. While some policies claim to promote transparency, their selective application risks undermining scientific integrity. True openness must apply across all research domains —not just where it aligns with political agendas. COS remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting and promoting open scholarship. Ensuring long-term access to research data is essential to maintaining scientific integrity. Our Open Science Framework (OSF) remains a reliable resource for researchers seeking to preserve and share their work, ensuring that public knowledge remains accessible despite policy uncertainties."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenInfrastructure #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "#NIH Ends Future Funding to Study the #Health Effects of #Climate Change"
propublica.org/article/nih-fun…

"The National Institutes of Health will no longer be funding work on the health effects of climate change, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica…While it’s unclear whether the climate guidance will impact active grants and lead to funding terminations, the directive appears to halt opportunities for future funding of studies or academic programs focused on the health effects of climate change."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. Here are some press releases and news stories on the lawsuit against the #Trump admin by American Association of University Professors (#AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (#AFT).

* From the AAUP
aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-…

* From the AFT
aft.org/press-release/faculty-…

* From The Guardian
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…

* From the NYTimes
nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregio…

#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #MahmoudKhalil #Protests #Travel #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "Global Science in Danger"
blog.scielo.org/en/2025/03/26/…

"Recently, the government of the United States of America (USA) has frightened the scientific community…by censoring terms used in scientific communications and funding proposals…The idea that this is just relevant to American scientists or scientists from elsewhere working in America is not correct; with researchers the world over being affected. In the Netherlands, for instance, some researchers monitoring the state of forests…have received email messages, ostensibly from the #USGS (United States Geological Survey) and labelled “High Priority”. A list of questions was attached with the request to respond with answers within a week of receiving the email. The USGS indicated that sending these messages had been ordered by the United States Office of Management and Budget (#OMB)."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

The National Museum and Library Services Board (#NMLSB) just sent an open letter to #Trump's acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS), Keith Sonderling.
publishersweekly.com/binary-da…

"It is our considered determination that the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018, as codified in Title 20 of the U.S. Code, outlines specific statutory mandates that cannot be paused, reduced, or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute…All such statutory obligations may not be discontinued or delayed under an Executive Order or other executive action."

#DefendResearch #Libraries #Museums #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. SCiMaP: View Impact of Federal Health Research Cuts
scienceimpacts.org/

"The National Institutes of Health (#NIH) funds crucial health research to address cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more. NIH funding also boosts the economy, returning >250% of the value invested. On Feb. 7th, 2025, the White House ordered across-the-board cuts to NIH funded research. This website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Entire staff at federal agency that funds #libraries and #museums put on leave"
npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-s1-53344…

"According to a statement from AFGE Local 3403, which represents #IMLS [Institute of Museum and Library Services] workers, the agency's staff was notified by email about being placed on paid administrative leave for 90 days after a "brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership." Employees had to turn in government property, and email accounts were disabled."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "More than 1,900 scientists write letter in ‘SOS’ over Trump’s attacks on science"
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…

"More than 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine [#NASEM] signed an open letter warning Americans about the “danger” of the #Trump administration’s attacks on science. The letter comes amid the administration’s relentless assault on US scientific institutions which has included threats to private universities, federal grant cancelations and ideological funding reviews, mass government layoffs, resignations and censorship."

Here is the letter itself.
docs.google.com/document/d/13g…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Mass layoffs are underway at the nation’s public health agencies"
apnews.com/article/health-huma…

"Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services [#HHS] Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated…The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues."

#CDC #CMS #DefendResearch #FDA #Medicine #NIH #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Patient Safety Network Abruptly Cut by Trump Administration"
medpagetoday.com/opinion/faust…

"The #Trump administration suddenly cut all funding for the Patient Safety Network (#PSNet) on Friday…PSNet is an influential and respected project within #HHS that has been dedicated to decreasing medical errors through research and knowledge dissemination. The endeavor has been credited with saving lives by helping change the culture by which clinicians learn from mistakes, thereby improving care."

Here's PSNet today.
psnet.ahrq.gov/

And here it is in the Wayback Machine.
web.archive.org/web/2025040214…

#AHRQ #Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. The Dept of Health and Human Services (#HHS) can no longer fulfill requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA), at least not without "exponentially" longer delays and backlogs. #RFKjr — who promised "radical transparency" — fired the staffers who handled those requests. A spokesperson said the layoffs will "streamline" the department and the work "will continue".
npr.org/sections/shots-health-…

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. #DOGE will review #NIH grant opportunities "to ensure the research that will be funded aligns with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration."
science.org/content/article/tr…
(#paywalled)

PS: Note that this is about content, politics, or ideology, not waste, fraud, or abuse.

"One NIH employee familiar with the matter worries that Trump officials reviewing the NOFOs [Notices of Funding Opportunities] “may not have the scientific background to understand why funding for research on certain topics is important.” Moreover, they added, “Having these decisions made by DOGE after months have been spent writing the NOFOs drafts and getting buy-in from [NIH’s institutes and centers] and offices is a huge waste of staff time and resources.”

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Scientists sue #NIH, saying politics cut their research funding"
apnews.com/article/nih-funding…

"A group of scientists and health groups sued the NIH on Wednesday, arguing that an “ideological purge” of research funding is illegal and threatens medical cures…The suit was filed by the American Public Health Association [#APHA], unions representing scientists and some researchers who were stripped of grants."

A similar suit has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (#CSPI), and the Protect Democracy Project (#PDP).
nbcnews.com/health/health-news…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "As #Universities Yield to #Trump, Higher Ed #Unions Are Fighting"
insidehighered.com/news/facult…

"Many college and university presidents have kept silent. But unions representing higher ed employees have stepped up to the plate. They’ve protested in Washington, D.C., and on their campuses, organized open letters and filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration. Union leaders say they are filling a void in an existential fight for higher ed’s future. They wish others would join their resistance, but their unified strength in numbers may protect their members from federal retaliation in ways that higher ed officials aren’t."

#Academia #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "US Weather Agency to Preserve Research Websites in Reversal"
bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

"The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency [#NOAA] will preserve access to websites tied to its research division, after previously moving to cancel a cloud web services contract that supports many of its pages. Bloomberg News had reported earlier that the service contract for NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research — known as NOAA Research — had been set to terminate this week, jeopardizing access to most of the office’s public-facing websites. But in an emailed statement Friday, NOAA said that the sites will be preserved."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever"
404media.co/nih-archives-repos…
(#paywalled)

"Almost two dozen repositories of research and public #health #data supported by the #NIH are marked for “review” under the #Trump administration’s direction, and researchers and archivists say the data is at risk of being lost forever if the repositories go down. “The problem with archiving this data is that we can’t,” Lisa Chinn, Head of Research Data Services at the University of Chicago…Unlike other government datasets or web pages, downloading or otherwise archiving NIH data often requires a Data Use Agreement between a researcher institution and the agency, and those agreements are carefully administered through a disclosure risk review process."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Marks Says He Was Forced Out of #FDA for Trying to Protect #Vaccine Safety #Data"
medpagetoday.com/publichealthp…

"Shortly before he was forced to resign, the nation's top vaccine regulator says he refused to grant #HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team unrestricted access to a tightly held vaccine safety database, fearing that the information might be manipulated or even deleted."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Statement from the University of California Systemwide Academic Senate Council: The Defense of the University, April 8, 2025
senate.universityofcalifornia.…

"We thus call on the Regents, President, and Chancellors of the University of California to expend every effort, commit necessary resources, and use all legal measures to defend our ability to conduct consequential, transformative research and provide high-quality teaching and mentoring. We call on our leaders to ensure the safety and privacy of students, faculty, and staff. And we further call on our leaders to protect academic freedom and faculty control of the curriculum—proactively and publicly."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #Universities
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws"
mississippitoday.org/2025/04/0…

"A state commission scrubbed academic research from a database used by #Mississippi #libraries and public #schools — a move made to comply with recent state laws changing what content can be offered in libraries. The Mississippi Library Commission ordered the deletion of two research collections that might violate state law…One of the now deleted research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies.”

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Estimated economic losses from federal health research cuts, by county"
axios.com/2025/04/09/nih-cuts-…

"Nearly half of all U.S. counties will experience economic losses of at least $250,000 as a result of the Trump administration's planned cuts to indirect funding by the National Institutes of Health [#NIH], per the Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "NIH freezes all research grants to Columbia University"
science.org/content/article/ni…

"Weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the U.S. National Institutes of Health to pull $250 million in biomedical research grants to #ColumbiaUniversity, the agency is freezing all remaining grant money owed to the university until further notice…#NIH will not only block new funding for the university, but also stop paying investigators working on all existing NIH projects."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "White House ends funding for key US climate body"
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…

"The White House is ending funding for the body that produces the federal government’s pre-eminent climate report, which summarizes the impacts of rising global temperatures on the United States. Every four years, the US Global Change Research Program (#USGCRP) is required by Congress to release a new national climate assessment to ensure leaders understand the drivers of – and threats posed by – global warming. It is the most comprehensive, far-reaching and up-to-date analysis of the climate crisis, playing a key role in local and national decision making about agriculture, energy production, and land and water use…But now, #NASA has ended its contract with the consulting firm ICF International, which convened the USGCRP and coordinated the federal agencies that contribute to the quadrennial report."

#Climate #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

Update. "US #NIH reverses conference travel ban for scientists"
reuters.com/business/healthcar…

"Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health had been told they cannot attend scientific conferences and meetings without official permission, even if they paid their own way and went during time off… After Reuters reported the travel restriction policy earlier on Thursday, an #HHS spokesperson said, 'Effective April 10, official travel may resume following established approval processes within each Institute and Center.'"

Neither the original travel restrictions nor the recent reversal have been put in writing.

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. Phillip Levine lists the 77 US #universities that stand to lose the most from three kinds of funding cuts threatened by the #Trump admin: (1) capping indirect costs for #NIH grants at 15%, (2) cutting the #NSF budget by two-thirds, and (3) endowment taxes.
chronicle.com/article/these-77…
(#paywalled)

PS: Note that there are other kinds of cuts that Levine does not bring into this calculation, like withholding funds from targeted institutions because of their DEI or antisemitism policies.

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "More Than $110 Million in #NIH Grants to #Harvard, Affiliated Hospitals Terminated Since Late February"
thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/…

"All of the grants were terminated before the #Trump administration announced a $9 billion review of funding to Harvard and affiliated health care centers. At least four grants to Harvard-affiliated scholars — specifically those related to research on Covid-19 — have since been temporarily reinstated as the White House battles court challenges. The affected projects had more than $43 million in undisbursed funds at the time of cancellation…All of the canceled projects prominently featured themes of #gender and #sexualidentity, #Covid-19 and its #vaccine, or health disparities."

#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Judge permanently blocks #NIH’s plan to cap funding, setting up appeals battle"
highereddive.com/news/judge-pe…

"Research #universities won an extended reprieve Friday when a federal judge permanently barred the National Institutes of Health from capping funding for indirect research costs at a 15% rate, a move that would cost institutions billions a year. US District Judge Angel Kelley ruled NIH had violated federal statute, was “arbitrary and capricious” in creating the cap, failed to follow rulemaking procedures when doing so and violated constitutional prohibitions on applying new rules retroactively."

The NIH will surely appeal.

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency. White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted."
science.org/content/article/tr…
(#paywalled)

"President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to end nearly all of the #climate research conducted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (#NOAA)…The administration is also preparing to ask for deep cuts to #NASA’s science programs."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Massive cuts to #NASA science proposed in early White House budget plan"
washingtonpost.com/science/202…

"NASA’s science budget could be cut nearly in half under an early version of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress, a move that would terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and future missions…'This is an extinction-level event for NASA science,' said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for the Planetary Society…'It needlessly terminates functional, productive science missions and cancels new missions currently being built, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process.'”

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "#CDC's #STD Lab Shuttered by #Trump Layoffs"
medpagetoday.com/infectiousdis…

"A critical laboratory for surveilling sexually transmitted diseases (#STDs) in the US has been lost in the Trump administration's mass layoffs…One of its most remarkable projects is a one-of-its-kind repository of 50,000 isolates of gonorrhea used to monitor antibiotic resistance, which is quickly becoming a global health concern. The lab has been doing this work for nearly 40 years -- but will now, at best, have a gap in data."

Also see the public statement by the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association (#ASTDA).
astda.org/statement-from-astda…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #OpenData #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to petersuber

The Food and Drug Administration (#FDA) has already lost 19% of its staff, the Centers for Disease Control (#CDC) 18%, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (#CMS) 9%.
medpagetoday.com/special-repor…

#DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
petersuber

Update. "Faculty Letter to Yale University Administration"
sites.google.com/view/yalefacu…

"We stand together at a crossroads. American universities are facing extraordinary attacks that threaten the bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and academic freedom. We write as one faculty, to ask you to stand with us now. We urge you to: …Resist and legally challenge any unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance…Protect science and other research at Yale from funding cutoffs… Defend the rights to free speech on campus…Work purposefully and proactively with other colleges and universities in collective defense."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

in reply to petersuber

Update. "The #Trump administration’s cuts have slowed operations in #Antarctica to a crawl. Scientists warn that #climate research conducted there is vitally urgent. Despite this, the #NSF is preparing for an operational retreat from Antarctica."
explorersweb.com/new-funding-c…

PS: This one is more personal for me. In 1996 I visited Palmer Station, a US base for polar biology on Anvers Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, and had a wonderful talk and tour with its director, Polly Penhale.

#DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
petersuber
in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More"
propublica.org/article/trump-d…

"The data collection efforts that have been shut down or are at risk of being curtailed are staggering in their breadth. In some cases, datasets from past years now sit orphaned, their caretakers banished and their future uncertain; in others, past data has vanished for the time being, and it’s unclear if and when it will reappear. Here are just a few examples."

PS: What follows is one of the best lists of deleted or endangered datasets so far published.

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Trump team freezes new NSF awards — and could soon axe hundreds of grants"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"All new research grants have been frozen at the US National Science Foundation (#NSF) — an action apparently ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency (#DOGE)… Documents seen by Nature show that two members of DOGE…have been given access to grant management systems and used that access to prevent grants from receiving funding that were already approved but awaiting finalization. 'That, of course, raises the hairs on the back of our neck in a worrisome way,' an NSF programme officer says."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Ned Hamson reshared this.

in reply to petersuber

no science, US will fall further behind... wonder what these folks are thinking they are accomplishing?
Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
petersuber

Update. "#NIH freezes funds to #Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them."
science.org/content/article/ni…
(#paywalled)

"After freezing all grants to #Columbia University last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now stopping grant and contract payments to Harvard University and four other universities [#Brown, #Northwestern, #Cornell, #WeillCornell Medical School]…The move will both block new funding and halt payments to investigators currently working on NIH projects…The Department of Health and Human Services (#HHS)…instructed NIH staff not to provide any communication to these institutions or to Columbia about whether the funds are frozen or why, according to the email."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Unknown parent

Update. "Trump’s #DOJ Sends Intimidating Letters to Medical #Journals for Supposedly Being ‘Partisan’ "
gizmodo.com/trumps-doj-sends-i…

"The U.S. Department of Justice has sent letters to medical journals for supposedly being “partisan,” heavily suggesting that they’re spreading misinformation and are influenced by “funders” rather than medical science. Gizmodo has confirmed that the journal CHEST, a peer-reviewed publication on pulmonary care published by the American College of Chest Physicians, received a letter this week. And MedPage Today reports that at least two other journals have received similar intimidating letters."

PS: The letter to Harvard shows that the Trump admin wants to control what universities teach. These letters show that it also wants to control what scholarly journals publish.

#AcademicFreedom #Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying #Trump administration"
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…

"More than 150 presidents of US colleges and universities have signed a statement denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” with higher education – the strongest sign yet that US educational institutions are forming a unified front against the government’s extraordinary attack on their independence. The statement, published early on Tuesday by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, comes weeks into the administration’s mounting campaign against higher education, and hours after Harvard University became the first school to sue the government over threats to its funding."

The letter itself:
aacu.org/newsroom/a-call-for-c…

#AACU #Academia #DefendResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

reshared this

in reply to petersuber

Update. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (#NOAA) maintains a public list of datasets and databases it's terminating.
nesdis.noaa.gov/about/document…

Transparency about pulling the plug on transparency.

#Climate #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
petersuber

Update. "National Science Foundation Terminates Hundreds of Active Research Awards"
nytimes.com/2025/04/22/science…

"In January, the #Trump administration attempted to freeze grant payments for existing awards at the #NSF. A temporary restraining order lifted the freeze. The order also said that the agency could not terminate active awards to comply with President Trump’s executive orders…In a statement on Friday, the NSF said that its grant cancellations were not in violation of the temporary restraining order. When asked by The Times to provide clarification on the legality of the grant cancellations, the agency declined to comment…On Friday, the NSF went further, canceling grants supporting ongoing research."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "How #Trump is following #Project2025’s radical roadmap to defund science."
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"Indiscriminate firings. Terminated grants. Cancelled programmes. The barrage of actions by US President Donald Trump has shocked the country’s research community over the past two months. Yet, much of it was planned out years in advance and laid out publicly…The Wall Street Journal found that more than half of Trump’s executive orders (EOs) align with Project 2025 recommendations. And most of its 40 listed authors are now key figures on Trump’s team…Here, Nature examines science-related policies from Project 2025 that have already come to pass, and which ones might be on the horizon."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Nomad13 reshared this.

in reply to petersuber

Update. "The federal Department of Education [#ED] maintains an open access database of more than 2 million documents [Education Resources Information Center, #ERIC] dating back to the 1960s. It will cease operating Wednesday due to #DOGE cuts."
governing.com/policy/major-edu…

PS: I use many sources in my attempt to stay on top of what's happening with #OpenAccess, #OpenScience, #OpenEducation, and so on. ERIC has been one of the stalwarts.

#DefendResearch #Education #Funding #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Kim Perales reshared this.

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petersuber

Update. "#NIH Grant Cuts Aren't Saving Money. They're Wasting It."
bloomberg.com/opinion/articles…

"The Trump administration’s waves of massive cuts to funding at the NIH are framed as a recasting of research priorities and a way to save taxpayer money. Another way to frame it is an exercise in massive waste. In terminating nearly 750 NIH grants over the past two months, the government dumped years of investment down the drain…Funding was pulled just as some of these projects were getting off the ground, while others were rounding into their last year of funding — a point where enough data would finally be collected to offer concrete results. Our analysis found that nearly 40% of the canceled R01 grants supported research that had yet to produce findings, meaning all of the agency’s prior investments won’t benefit the public."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
petersuber

Update. "US dismisses all authors of National Climate Assessment."
reuters.com/sustainability/cop…

"President Donald Trump's administration has dismissed all contributors to the U.S. government's signature study that informs federal and local governments on how to prepare for climate change impacts…The dismissal of nearly 400 contributors to the sixth National Climate Assessment, which is mandated by Congress, leaves the future of the report in doubt."

#Climate #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

reshared this

Unknown parent

Update. "Scientist Who Helped Prove Humans Changed the Climate Watches Evidence Being Erased"
sfpublicpress.org/scientist-wh…

"Ben Santer never imagined that 12 words could change the trajectory of his life and humanity’s understanding of what it was doing to the planet: 'The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.' He wrote that sentence as the lead author of a pivotal chapter in the 1995 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [#IPCC]…Now the #data sources that made that discovery possible are under threat… 'There’s real concern that the data may go away, that the satellites, measurements that have been collected for 40 plus years, may not continue.'"

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #OpenData #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
Unknown parent

Update. Noam Ross and Scott Delaney maintain a crowdsourced database of #NIH grant terminations. Extremely helpful.
airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy…

Meagan Parrish has put together a useful overview of what it contains.
pharmavoice.com/news/nih-hhs-c…

Ross and Delaney also maintain a database of #NSF grant terminations. Right now it lists 501.
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXniQZkFC…

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
Unknown parent

Update. People receiving an #NIH grant must now promise not to participate in #DEI programs or any boycott of #Israel or companies doing business in Israel. NIH calls this a "civil rights" condition on the grant.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/no…

#CivilRights #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update. "Impacts of Restrictions on Federal Grant Funding in Physics and Astronomy Graduate Programs."
ww2.aip.org/statistics/impacts…

"37% of the responding department chairs [in #physics and #astronomy] said they expect to enroll fewer first-year graduate students in the fall of 2025 than they did the previous year…The number of first-year graduate students in physics and astronomy is anticipated to decline by about 13%. This is a projected decline of about 600 first-year graduate students."

#DefendResearch #Funding #ERC #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update from Lisa Schiff (@lschiff), "Protecting your work – and your values – in US higher education."
timeshighereducation.com/campu…

"With US higher education under attack from the federal government, what can scholars do to ensure their research is preserved and to stand up for academic freedom? Lisa Schiff, a co-author of the Declaration to Defend Research."

#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Unknown parent

Update from Gary Price (@infodocket). "Accessing Archived Material From #ERIC (Education Resource Information Center) via the #InternetArchive."
infodocket.com/2025/04/23/acce…

"Here are a couple ways to access archived material from ERIC on the open web. We will do our best to keep this post updated if/when new open web sources become available to access ERIC material."

#DefendResearch #Education #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
Unknown parent

Update. "Groups Decry Loss of Funding for 'Critically Important' GI Disease Network."
medpagetoday.com/special-repor…

"Physicians and patient advocates are sounding the alarm after the #NIH abruptly withdrew a grant renewal application for the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (#CEGIR), the only clinical care network for eosinophilic gastroenteritis patients in the U.S."

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (#AAAAI) says that NIH defunded the project, not on the merits, but because it uses "foreign components".
aaaai.org/about/news/news/2025…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update. The long-running and wide-ranging study of women's health that #NIH cut two days was back on track the next day.
nytimes.com/2025/04/24/health/…

PS: This is another sign that some protests work. It's also an example of thoughtless pillaging, as opposed to a careful attempt to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.

#DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
Unknown parent

Update. "Funding cut for landmark study of women's health."
npr.org/2025/04/23/nx-s1-53728…

"The #Trump administration is shutting down most of a landmark federal project studying women's health, stunning researchers around the country…The study, begun in the 1990s, has produced a series of groundbreaking results and was continuing to gather valuable data about women's health…Neither the #NIH, which funds the study, nor #HHS, which oversees the NIH, responded to NPR's questions about the matter…One big question is what will happen to the huge repository of #data…which represents a treasure trove that could be mined to make yet more important discoveries."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. The #OpenAccess Biodiversity Heritage Library (#BHL) needs a new home. The #Smithsonian will stop hosting it next January.
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2…

#Biodiversity #DefendResearch #ILoveBHL #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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petersuber

Update. Usha Lee McFarling has put together a very useful timeline of #Trump's major actions on science and health in his first 100 days.
statnews.com/2025/04/24/trump-…

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

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petersuber

Update. "Will US science survive Trump 2.0?"
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"In just the first three months of his second term, US President Donald Trump has destabilized eight decades of government support for science. His administration has fired thousands of government scientists, bringing large swathes of the country’s research to a standstill and halting many clinical trials. It has threatened to slash billions in funding from US research universities and has terminated more than 1,000 grants in areas such as climate change, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV prevention. This looks likely to be just the beginning."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "‘The Classified Catalog’ launches to track secrecy news"
freedom.press/the-classifieds/…

"The [Trump] administration is eroding the information environment in ways this country has never seen. More secrets are being kept, more data is being deleted, and more government employees are being censored. This excessive secrecy prevents the public from meaningfully participating in self-government on domestic policies from climate and health issues to foreign affairs. To combat this, Freedom of the Press Foundation (#FPF) began tracking reports of government secrecy in January 2025."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Journalism #Monitoring #Secrecy #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. One of many good points by Alice Meadows and Suze Kundu:
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/20…

When #Trump cuts budgets and staffing at science agencies, and terminates research grants, #journalists should write about the effects on people (less cancer research, more cancer), not just the effects on universities (less funding).

#DefendResearch #Journalism #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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petersuber

Update. #RFKJr has ordered the #NIH to stop studying #ebola and half a dozen other fatal infectious diseases.
wired.com/story/hhs-niaid-irf-…

#DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Accelerating Access to Research Results: New Implementation Date for the 2024 #NIH Public Access Policy"
nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/n…

"I am excited to announce that one of my first actions as NIH Director is pushing the accelerator on policies to make NIH research findings freely and quickly available to the public. The 2024 Public Access Policy, originally slated to go into effect on December 31, 2025, will now be effective as of July 1, 2025."

PS: This announcement is from the Trump-appointed NIH director, #JayBhattacharya. It's another sign that Trump has not revoked or weakened the #OSTP #NelsonMemo, despite other attacks on research, including #takedowns of #OpenAccess texts and data. At the NIH, the largest funding agency, implementation of the Nelson memo is even speeding up.

#DefendResearch #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics

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petersuber

Update. "Amid DOGE-induced turmoil, National Science Foundation in crisis."
washingtonpost.com/science/202…

"The 75-year-old government agency [#NSF] has one function: keep the U.S. science enterprise at the leading edge. In the past two weeks, however, the $9 billion agency, which exists entirely to fund science researchers, projects and facilities…hit reverse on its main mission."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "Exclusive: #NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones."
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature. The policy prevents the NSF, one of the world’s biggest supporters of basic research, from awarding new research grants and from supplying allotted funds for existing grants, such as those that receive yearly increments of money. The email does not provide a reason for the freeze and says that it will last 'until further notice'."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Nazani
this will encourage more US scientists to emigrate.
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petersuber

Update. "#NIH halts funding for new projects with foreign collaborators, citing national security concerns."
statnews.com/2025/05/01/nih-ha…

"The National Institutes of Health announced Thursday it will no longer allow subawards to foreign institutions, as part of a national security-minded overhaul to how the agency manages its $47 billion research funding portfolio. The change is likely to cause immediate disruptions to research projects around the world."

#Collaboration #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Nationalism #NationalSecurity #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Glyn Moody reshared this.

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petersuber

Update. "#Trump says he’s yanking #Harvard’s tax-exempt status."
politico.com/news/2025/05/02/t…

PS: We could say that Trump has moved from threat to action. Or we could say that he's started another two-step dance to energize the MAGA base, first with a futile gesture ("look at my strong action!") and second with the inevitable loss in court ("look at those radical judges!").

#Academia #DefendResearch #Nonprofits #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

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petersuber

Update. "Education Department restarts online library #ERIC."
hechingerreport.org/proof-poin…

"The US Department of Education announced Monday that it would continue to operate its online library, known as ERIC, after allowing it to lapse last week. The Department of Government Efficiency (#DOGE) had sought significant cuts to the document repository that is used by 14 million people a year, and allowed funding to run out on April 23…A new, albeit much smaller contract was signed on April 24…[Matthew Soldner, the acting director of the Institute of Education Sciences] said that 'no content has been removed or deleted from ERIC. The preservation policy is unchanged [and] we will not remove an article in ERIC unless it is retracted by the publisher.'"

#DefendResearch #Education #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. PEN America (@pen_ev) is pulling together separate federal agency lists of banned words to make one, growing master list. It currently has more than 350 entries.
pen.org/banned-words-list/

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Ned Hamson reshared this.

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Update. "#NIH under siege."
science.org/content/article/ni…

"Nearly 3 months into President Donald Trump’s administration, NIH in-house scientists and other workers [are] reeling from mass layoffs of colleagues; the removal of leaders; and limits on travel, communication, and purchasing that have shut the agency off from the outside world, hamstrung experiments, and crushed the community’s spirits…The atmosphere is one of 'chaos and fear and frustration and anger,' said a senior scientist with NIH’s intramural research program…This scientist added: 'It’s this feeling of utter powerlessness and repeated insults.'"

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts to US science."
nature.com/articles/d41586-025…

"The budget document released by the White House on Friday for the upcoming fiscal year…would cut all non-defence spending by 23% but targets the US National Science Foundation [#NSF] for a 56% funding reduction, and would slash the budget of the US National Institutes of Health [#NIH] by roughly 40%. The Environmental Protection Agency [#EPA], which on Friday also announced plans to dismantle its primary research division, would be hit by a 55% cut as the administration seeks to eliminate what it calls “radical” and “woke” #climate programmes."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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Update. "The Latest #Trump and #DOGE Casualty: #Energy Data."
propublica.org/article/the-lat…

"The #EIA [Energy Information Administration, an independent agency housed inside the Department of Energy, #DOE] has privately informed staff that it is scrapping publication of its closely followed International Energy Outlook for 2025. The previous edition of the international outlook, released every two years, contained 70 pages detailing global trends. The paradox: That will leave the field open to the equivalent publication from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, which conservatives accuse of bending its forecasts to promote climate-change goals."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update. "National Endowment for the Arts rescinds grants, dazing publishers and theaters."
washingtonpost.com/entertainme…

"Arts organizations across the country saw their grants pulled with little explanation, while a proposed federal budget sought to eliminate the arts funding agency altogether."

#Arts #DefendResearch #Funding #NEA #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update. "One of California’s largest collections of history could go dark."
sfgate.com/local/article/calif…

"One of #California’s largest collections of digitized #newspapers, going back nearly 200 years and spanning approximately 54 million articles, could disappear due to gutted state #funding. The unexpected news has delivered a heavy blow to historians, journalists, researchers and educators who rely on the archives for their work…The California Digital Newspapers Collection, housed at UC Riverside’s Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, said on its website that its future “is in jeopardy” after…its budget was completely decimated, leaving [it] with just a few weeks to source $300,000 or face the possibility of getting shut down."

#DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

Unknown parent

Update. Kudos to the American Meteorological Society (#AMS) and the American Geophysical Union (#AGU). Less than a week after the #Trump admin fired the 400 scientists working on the sixth National Climate Assessment (#NCA), due in 2028, these two scientific societies stepped up to continue the work in a new form.
news.agu.org/press-release/agu…

#Climate #DefendResearch #USPol #USPolitics

in reply to petersuber

Update. "#NIH blocks researchers in China, Russia and other countries from multiple databases."
fiercebiotech.com/research/nih…

"The #Trump administration has blocked access to multiple data repositories maintained by the NIH…The ban is effective April 4 and applies to institutions in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela…The numerous controlled-access data repositories (CADRs) that are affected by the rule hold data on a vast swath of subjects including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, mental health disorders, substance abuse and adolescent brain development."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Nationalism #OpenData #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

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