Federal orders put pressure on science journals to drop inclusive language
A federally funded health journal asked researchers to cut demographic data and the word “equitably” from a peer-reviewed paper — raising alarms about political interference in public health research.
Peter Andrey Smith reports for Undark.
In short:
- Anthropologists Tamar Antin and Rachelle Annechino withdrew their accepted study from Public Health Reports after the journal requested edits to remove language allegedly conflicting with Trump-era executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- These directives are chilling scientific publishing at key government-linked journals, with researchers self-censoring and journals like Environmental Health Perspectives pausing new submissions due to federal uncertainty.
- Many editors say politically motivated edits — like deleting demographic data — threaten research integrity and hinder progress in public health equity.
Key quote:
“Their executive orders are specifically trying to censor research related to populations who are experiencing the most inequities in health.”
— Tamar Antin, anthropologist at the Center for Critical Public Health
Why this matters:
Public health depends on understanding who’s affected, why, and how to fix it. If journals start slicing out demographic context or pretend inequities don’t exist, then the science becomes unreliable and incomplete by way of omission. Some researchers are now speaking out about the impacts, calling the Trump administration's policies not only unscientific, but unethical — and possibly illegal.
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