Expanded Russian secrecy law tightens researchers’ freedom to publish

Nature : The A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology at Lomonosov Moscow State University has ordered its scientists to submit all their research papers to the FSB, the Russian secret service and successor to the KGB, before they are allowed to submit them to journals for publication. According to scientists interviewed by Nature‘s Quirin Schiermeier, other Russian institutions are issuing similar orders. Since 1993 researchers have had to get publication approval from the FSB if the research involved military or industrial significance. In May, Russian president Vladimir Putin expanded the scope to include “new products,” which is open to wide interpretation by the FSB and science administrators. In an added complication, if the paper is written in English, the common language for research journals, the researcher now has to translate it into Russian so that the FSB can read it. Fyodor Kondrashov, a Russian biologist at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, believes the most lasting damage will be more subtle: Russian researchers will be less inclined to give talks abroad. Kondrashov also thinks the new law will be applied selectively to critics of the government.