The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), funded by NASA and known for its archives on planetary science, has deleted many meeting abstracts focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) following a January executive order by President Trump. The decision has sparked outrage among researchers, leading to claims of censorship and ethical failures in scientific communication. Critics argue that the LPI has misinterpreted the executive order, extending its reach to independent works, raising concerns about academic freedom and the documentation of important scientific ideas that advocate for inclusivity in research.
Many researchers are fuming about the deletions from the archives of a research institute that is managed independently from the federal government. "This is just egregious censorship of science," says Ingrid Daubar, a planetary scientist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
The abstract deletions are an 'Orwellian rewriting of history', says a researcher who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the situation. Mark Sykes, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, called the decision 'a profound ethical failure'.
Several scientists told Nature that they think the LPI and its parent organization, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in Washington DC, have over-interpreted the Trump executive order as retroactively applying to independently performed work in public archives.
In a statement provided to Nature, the USRA said it 'believes that compliance with Administration directives requires DEI content to be out of public view', unless it is 'advised by an authoritative federal body that we can restore that content.'
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