US societies to defy ban on editing articles from embargoed countries
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《英国医生杂志》
London
A group of American scientific societies is planning to defy a recent US government ruling that has prevented their journals from publishing work by scientists from Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, and Sudan, all countries subject to US trade embargoes.
Historically, US trade embargoes have regulated the transfer of goods but not of information, as law makers believed that a free exchange of ideas would encourage democratic development in the targeted countries. Trade legislation has normally specified journal articles and other written material as exempt from regulation.
But last September the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers trade embargoes, announced that any substantive changes made by American reviewers, translators, or editors to manuscripts from the embargoed countries would constitute a service to the country and would be permissible only with a special licence. Violators of the trade regulations can incur fines as high as $500 000 (￡268 000; 400 000) and jail sentences of up to 10 years.
President Bush's sanctions are affecting scientific articles as well as trade
Credit: ROD AYDELOTTE/AP
The American Chemical Society, publisher of 30 journals in physical and organic chemistry, stopped accepting articles from authors in embargoed countries last September but has now decided to return to "business as usual." After taking legal advice, the society has concluded that if the government prosecutes, it can mount a defence based on the first amendment to the US constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press.
According to the president of the society's publications division, Robert Bovenschulte, the society has formed a task force with other, unnamed scientific publishers, which will consider legal action "if other avenues of redress fail to overturn the OFAC ruling."
"We reluctantly imposed a temporary moratorium in September," said Mr Bovenschulte, "but this was at odds with our own ethical guidelines, which demand that we consider what to publish based upon its scientific merit, and that alone. The advancement of science is a global activity, and this ruling is frankly inimical to that."
Some publishers have applied for an Office of Foreign Assets Control licence to edit submitted articles, whereas others, such as the Nature Publishing Group, have never stopped taking manuscripts from embargoed countries. Most publishers now doubt that the government will prosecute if they defy the ban.
Fredun Hojabri, a California based Iranian scientist, blames the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers for seeking legal clarification from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, prompting officials to issue September's interpretative ruling.
"It all started two years ago when the IEEE got in trouble with OFAC for setting up a bank account to fund travel to a scientific conference in Iran," he said. "It was they who asked OFAC for a ruling on this issue."
A legal opinion sought by the American Association of Publishers in January said the ban was a clear case of prior restraint, and violated both the first amendment and the Berman amendment exempting informational material from trade embargoes.
Pat Schroeder, the association's president, said: "This ruling is baffling. How does editing manuscripts threaten the US? "(Owen Dyer)
A group of American scientific societies is planning to defy a recent US government ruling that has prevented their journals from publishing work by scientists from Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, and Sudan, all countries subject to US trade embargoes.
Historically, US trade embargoes have regulated the transfer of goods but not of information, as law makers believed that a free exchange of ideas would encourage democratic development in the targeted countries. Trade legislation has normally specified journal articles and other written material as exempt from regulation.
But last September the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers trade embargoes, announced that any substantive changes made by American reviewers, translators, or editors to manuscripts from the embargoed countries would constitute a service to the country and would be permissible only with a special licence. Violators of the trade regulations can incur fines as high as $500 000 (￡268 000; 400 000) and jail sentences of up to 10 years.
President Bush's sanctions are affecting scientific articles as well as trade
Credit: ROD AYDELOTTE/AP
The American Chemical Society, publisher of 30 journals in physical and organic chemistry, stopped accepting articles from authors in embargoed countries last September but has now decided to return to "business as usual." After taking legal advice, the society has concluded that if the government prosecutes, it can mount a defence based on the first amendment to the US constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press.
According to the president of the society's publications division, Robert Bovenschulte, the society has formed a task force with other, unnamed scientific publishers, which will consider legal action "if other avenues of redress fail to overturn the OFAC ruling."
"We reluctantly imposed a temporary moratorium in September," said Mr Bovenschulte, "but this was at odds with our own ethical guidelines, which demand that we consider what to publish based upon its scientific merit, and that alone. The advancement of science is a global activity, and this ruling is frankly inimical to that."
Some publishers have applied for an Office of Foreign Assets Control licence to edit submitted articles, whereas others, such as the Nature Publishing Group, have never stopped taking manuscripts from embargoed countries. Most publishers now doubt that the government will prosecute if they defy the ban.
Fredun Hojabri, a California based Iranian scientist, blames the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers for seeking legal clarification from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, prompting officials to issue September's interpretative ruling.
"It all started two years ago when the IEEE got in trouble with OFAC for setting up a bank account to fund travel to a scientific conference in Iran," he said. "It was they who asked OFAC for a ruling on this issue."
A legal opinion sought by the American Association of Publishers in January said the ban was a clear case of prior restraint, and violated both the first amendment and the Berman amendment exempting informational material from trade embargoes.
Pat Schroeder, the association's president, said: "This ruling is baffling. How does editing manuscripts threaten the US? "(Owen Dyer)