Standing Against Censorship in Research

The EveryLibrary Institute is proud to join the #DefendResearch coalition of organizations, institutions, and individuals in endorsing the "Declaration to Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship." This statement of principles serves as both a warning and a call to action for the scholarly communication ecosystem.

It demands that we confront and resist the increasing attempts by governments to censor, suppress, or distort academic research, affirming the fundamental right of scholars to pursue knowledge freely and share their findings without political interference.

We believe that academic freedom is a public good. Academic research underpins our shared pursuit of truth, informs public policy, drives innovation, and expands the boundaries of human knowledge. When governments attempt to limit the language scholars can use, restrict research funding based on ideology, remove publicly available data, or target researchers for their work, they violate academic freedom and undermine the public good.

Such actions compromise the integrity of the scientific record, distort research outcomes, and erase essential perspectives from the scholarly conversation. They restrict students' education, chill inquiry across disciplines, and diminish the United States’ leadership in global research. For libraries whose mission is to preserve and provide access to the scholarly record, government censorship is not an abstract threat; it is a direct assault on their mission and our shared values.

Joining the #DefendResearch coalition reflects a deep and urgent concern for the health of the academic and research ecosystem. As the publisher of The Political Librarian, an academic journal dedicated to supporting new research and scholarship about libraries at the intersection of public policy issues, we have embedded the principles of the Declaration in our editorial guidelines and publishing practices. Through this Declaration, we commit to providing a secure, censorship-resistant venue for scholars to publish and preserve their work.

“We stand with our colleagues across higher education in rejecting the politicization of research and reaffirming the principle that knowledge must remain free and accessible,” says John Chrastka, Executive Director of the EveryLibrary Institute. “We owe it to future generations of researchers, scholars, and students to ensure that their work is never constrained by fear of suppression or distortion.”

Libraries and librarians often witness the consequences of censorship first-hand: restricted access to information, disappearing data, and the narrowing of intellectual diversity. We see how these restrictions ripple outward, limiting what students can learn, what faculty can teach, and what society can know. The Declaration challenges libraries, universities, publishers, funders, policymakers, and individuals to take action. We urge our colleagues in higher education, scholarly communication, and the library profession to add their names to this effort. Together, we can defend the integrity of research and scholarship and protect the freedom to ask questions, pursue answers, and share knowledge for generations to come.

Sign the Declaration & join the community to #DefendResearch Against U.S. Government Censorship.