Growing insistence for boycott of Russian researchers draws mixed response

Amidst a rapid and global “decoupling”¹ from Russia, the scientific community appears divided over a full-blown academic boycott prohibiting Russian authors from publishing in international journals. Those supporting the ban hope that it will pressurize the authorities and put an end to the ongoing war. However, some journals fear the boycott might isolate Russian scientists from the rest of the world and impede the flow of knowledge.

Opposing the boycott, Richard Sever, co-founder of bioRxiv and medRxiv (two preprint servers) remarked, “You have to ask what this will achieve. Is it about sending a signal? If so, there are better ways.”²

Since the beginning of the war, scientists across Ukraine and around the world have demanded a strict boycott on Russian scientists from all major journals. Olesia Vashchuk, an official at the Education and Science Ministry, Ukraine, mentioned in his letters to Elsevier and Clarivate² that Russia’s science community is not morally eligible anymore to communicate science to the world. The letters urge removal of Russian journals from Clarivate’s databases, and of Russian scientists from Elsevier’s editorial board.

As a reaction to the Ukrainians’ strong calls for the ban, Russian officials have hinted at scraping the need for researchers funded by the government to publish in international journals for.²

Until now, only a few journals have strictly banned Russian authors from publishing. One of these is the Journal of Molecular Structure, a part of Elsevier, which has called the invasion a violation of international law. “It is not directed to Russian scientists, who certainly deserve all our esteem and respect, but to Russian institutions,”² said Rui Fausto, the editor of the journal.

Clarivate, the operational authority of Web of Science, has taken strict actions toward Russia and Belarus by ceasing all commercial activities, closing an office in Russia, and putting a stop to accepting their journals for the database.

“[By] rejecting manuscripts written by Russian authors and excluding the Russian journals from Scopus and Web of Science, Elsevier and Clarivate can contribute to the end of this war,”² says Myroslava Hladchenko, a student at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyiv. 

References:

1. Hinchliffe, L. Schonfeld, R. Decoupling from Russia. Scholarly Kitchen. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2022/03/02/decoupling-from-russia/ (2022)

2. Else, H. Ukrainian researchers pressure journals to boycott Russian authors. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00718-y (2022).