Petition to apply sanctions against Russian universities that openly support war in Ukraine

Dear Publishers and Editors,

Science should be free and independent from politics, however on 04.03.2022 the Russian Union of Rectors released a statement signed by a number of Russian universities and institutions [1]. In this statement, the Rectors openly support Russian aggression against Ukraine in which the Russian army commits war crimes, crimes against humanity, kills children and innocent civilians, destroys residential areas and civil infrastructure, including hospitals, kindergartens, schools, etc.

Ignoring this and continuing the working relationships with these universities and institutions is not an option. For this reason, we urge the publishing houses worldwide [2] to apply following sanctions to these institutions and universities [1]:

1. Prohibit access to the scientific journals and books to [1],

2. Refuse submission and publishing of manuscripts with author(s) with current affiliations from [1],

3. Ban scientists with current affiliations from [1] from editorial boards and peer review processes. 

At the same time, we appeal to all scientists around the world to

4. Refuse to peer review manuscripts where authors have current affiliations from [1]

5. Ban scientists with current affiliations [1] from scientific conferences.

We appeal for these sanctions and restrictions to be applied until an official statement of each Rector is made, which states a position of withdrawal from supporting the Russian-led war in Ukraine.

We are aware that science, in its search for the truth for the benefit of humanity, does not discriminate between people on the basis of their affiliation with institutions and the politics of the countries involved. However, the current attack on fundamental values of our civilization demands immediate action to all those who support war, which must occur in all aspects of society, including science.

We value very much the brave Russian citizens who speak up against this war [3]. These are welcome to publish as private individuals without their affiliation with a signed statement of condemning the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, e.g. [3].

Thank you and we look forward to progressing this action.

Glory to Ukraine and its heroes!

Petr Formanek, Andriy Horechyy, Olha Aftenieva, Nadiia Davydiuk

[1] https://www.rsr-online.ru/news/2022-god/obrashchenie-rossiyskogo-soyuza-rektorov1/

English translation available: https://ajrimmer.mailchimpsites.com/

[2] Some publishing houses already took a position by “suspending sales and marketing of products and services”. Multi-Publisher statement: https://mailchi.mp/4851e2a74119/joint-publisher-statement with links to individual statements of some publishers.

[3] Originally published under https://trv-science.ru/2022/02/we-are-against-war/ Now not accessible. Relocated to https://t-invariant.org/2022/02/we-are-against-war/

English translation available: https://ajrimmer.mailchimpsites.com/

and https://www.breath-hannover.de/news-medien/news/news-detailseite.html?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=619&chash=a595dc34ab8517ea8002506e9d924e53&cHash=33163f34dbecbf59a6641f99efe908e5

[4] The petition is addressed to (no intentional order): ACS Publications, Springer Nature, John Wiley, Apple Academic Press, Brill, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, De Gruyter, Academic Press (Elsevier), Emerald Publishing, Future Science Group, IOP Publishing, Karger Publishers, Springer Nature, The Geological Society, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Thieme Group, Wolters Kluwer, Oxford University Press, Routledge, MDPI, RSC Publishing, PNAS, IEEE, University of Chicago Press, Sage Publications, Columbia University Press, Harvard University Press, MIT Press, Princeton University Press, Stanford University Press, Taylor and Francis.