List of open letters by academics explained

This article lists notable open letters that were initiated by scientists or other academics or have a substantial share of academic signees.

Open letters that are not open for signing by other academics or the public in general and have not received both a large number of signatures – in specific no less than 10 before 2000 and no less than 40 after 2010 – and substantial media attention are not included, nor are petitions. With the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web, such open letters may have become far more frequent.

Open letters targeting or defending individual academics or small groups of scholars[1] [2] as well as letters calling for retractions of specific studies are not included.

NameYearSignaturesScope / topicDemandsOrganized byDemand achievedCriticized
[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] 2023GlobalAll editors at NeuroImage and resigned because they oppose the large fee ($3450) that the journal owner, publishing giant Elsevier, charges authors to make their scientific papers open access (OA). As Elsevier refused to reduce the fee, they launch a new OA journal Imaging Neuroscience hosted by the non-profit publisher MIT Press.[8] They commit to make the new journal replace their abandoned one as "the top journal in [their] field" and hope they demonstrate "the way forward in non-profit publishing".[9] (Group action of full editors-team)
[10] [11] [12] [13] 2023Global"AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" due to "profound risks to society and humanity".[14] Future of Life Institute[15] [16] [17] [18]
[19] [20] 2023European Union / Changes to the proposed Cyber Resilience Act due to "unnecessary economic and technological risk to the EU" and improving engagement with the under-represented open source software community as "more than 70% of the software in Europe [open source/[[Free and open source software|FOSS]]] is about to be regulated without an in-depth consultation" and potential chilling effects of OSS development.The Eclipse Foundation
[21] 2023GlobalAcceleration of research on "atmospheric aerosols and their potential to increase the reflection of sunlight from the atmosphere to address climate risk".
[22] [23] 2022Global"[I]mmediate political action from governments, the United Nations, and other actors to prevent the normalization of solar geoengineering as a climate policy option".16 scholars[24]
[25] [26] [27] 2022GlobalUniversities should stop accepting funding from fossil fuel companies to conduct climate research.Fossil Free Research[28]
2022Russia, UkraineIndependence of the Ukrainian people and freedom of the Ukrainian state (in face of the 2022 Russian invasion of the country).Roald Hoffmann, Richard J. Roberts
[29] [30] [31] 2022Russia, UkraineCondemnation of the war against Ukraine with "responsibility for unleashing a new war in Europe [lying] entirely with Russia".[32] NA
[33] 2022Global"Insofar as it involves unnecessary violence and harm, [they] declare that animal exploitation is unjust and morally indefensible".
Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security2022GlobalFour steps towards a nuclear-weapon-free world to take by the Tenth Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2022.NoFirstUse Global
[34] 2022MaltaPassage of abortion law changes Bill No. 28 of 2022 as is.
[35] 2022USA / GlobalHalting recent moves towards increasing fossil fuel production and instead take bold action to rapidly reduce fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure by President Biden.Scientists Bob Howarth, Mark Jacobson, Michael Mann, Sandra Steingraber, and Peter Kalmus
[36] 2021USA / Global"President Joe Biden and his administration to commit to reducing U.S. heat-trapping emissions by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030".Union of Concerned Scientists
[37] [38] 2021USA / GlobalRemoval of logging and fossil fuel provisions from reconciliation and infrastructure bills by President Biden and members of Congress.[39]
[40] [41] 2021USA / GlobalPresident Biden to "use his forthcoming declaration of a new national strategy for managing nuclear weapons as a chance to cut the U.S. arsenal by a third, and to declare, for the first time, that the United States would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict".
[42] 2021USA / Global Biologist Dr. Sandra Steingraber, climate scientist Dr. Peter Kalmus, advocacy groups Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch
[46] 2021GlobalEnd of the criminalization of non-violent civil disobedience from direct action climate activist groups.Oscar Berglund, others
[47] 2021GlobalA "temporary TRIPS waiver – as proposed by India and South Africa and supported by more than 100 countries – [as a] necessary and proportionate legal measure towards the clearing of existing intellectual property barriers to scaling up of production of COVID-19 health technologies in a direct, consistent and effective fashion".
[48] [49] [50] 2021[51] GlobalWTO to eliminate increasing harmful fisheries subsidies.
[52] 2020[53] GlobalWHO, medical community and relevant national and other international bodies to "recognize the potential for airborne spread" of COVID-19 by around the time of the letter.Lidia Morawska, Donald K Milton
[54] 2020PhilippineEnd to President Rodrigo Duterte's "bloody war on drugs" and the creation of a Truth Commission.
2020GlobalCondemnation of cancel culture and liberal intolerance and defending free speech, making an argument that hostility to free speech was becoming widespread on what could be described as "the political left" as well.Thomas Chatterton Williams, Robert Worth, George Packer, David Greenberg, Mark LillaNA[55] [56]
[57] 2020GlobalEngagement with the risk of disruption and even collapse of societies due to climate change by policymakers.Gesa Weyhenmeyer, Will Steffen
[58] 2019GlobalDeclaration of support for Extinction Rebellion and sufficient change of Australian government's inaction on the climate crisis. It is based on .
[59] 2019GlobalDeclaration of support for School Strikes for Climate.
[60] [61] 2018Global"Plan[ning]" for a post-growth future in which human and ecological wellbeing is prioritised over GDP by the European Union and its member states.Wellbeing Economy Alliance and others
[62] 2016USA / GlobalSix steps of immediate and sustained action to take by Donald Trump against human-caused climate change.
[63] 2016USA / GlobalSufficient funding of scientific research as well as "support[ing] and rely[ing] on science as a key input for crafting public policy" by the incoming administration.Union of Concerned Scientists
[64] 2015Global – GoogleMore transparency of Google's right to be forgotten (RTBF) processes.
2015Global[...]Future of Life InstituteNA
[65] 2011USA, Canada / GlobalStoppage of SOPA and PIPA Internet blacklist bills.[66] Electronic Frontier Foundation
2007Russia[67]
1990RussiaPreventing privatisation of land itself, instead of a Georgist system of common ownership and the collection of public revenue through land-value taxation.

See also

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Notes and References

  1. News: "Academic mobbing" undermines open inquiry and destroys the soul of universities . The Economist . 16 May 2023.
  2. Web site: Carl . Noah . 11 February 2021 . A List of Academic Petitions and Open Letters . 16 May 2023 . Medium . en.
  3. Sanderson . Katharine . Editors quit top neuroscience journal to protest against open-access charges . Nature . 21 April 2023 . 616 . 7958 . 641 . en . 10.1038/d41586-023-01391-5. 37085706 . 258275824 . free .
  4. News: 'It Feels Like Things Are Breaking Open': High Publishing Charges Spur Neuroscientists to Start Own Journal . 20 May 2023 . The Chronicle of Higher Education . 22 April 2023 . en.
  5. News: Mir . Rory . Science Rebels Take on Major Publishers . 20 May 2023 . Electronic Frontier Foundation . 10 May 2023 . zh-hans.
  6. News: Quinn . Ryan . Exodus From an Elsevier Neuroscience Journal . 20 May 2023 . Inside Higher Ed . en.
  7. News: 40 editors at a scientific journal just resigned in protest of their publisher's "greed" . 20 May 2023 . Salon . 10 May 2023 . en.
  8. News: News at a glance: A new malaria vaccine, a Parkinson's test, and editors resign . 20 May 2023 . Science . en.
  9. Web site: Elsevier: NeuroImage transition - all editors have resigned over the high publication fee, and are starting a new non-profit journal, Imaging Neuroscience . 20 May 2023.
  10. News: Metz . Cade . Schmidt . Gregory . 2023-03-29 . Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing 'Profound Risks to Society' . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-16 . 0362-4331.
  11. News: 2023-03-29 . Elon Musk among experts urging a halt to AI training . en-GB . BBC News . 2023-05-16.
  12. Web site: Kelly . Samantha Murphy . 2023-03-29 . Elon Musk and other tech leaders call for pause in 'out of control' AI race CNN Business . 2023-05-16 . CNN . en.
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  14. Web site: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter . 2023-05-16 . Future of Life Institute . en-US.
  15. News: Paul . Kari . 2023-04-01 . Letter signed by Elon Musk demanding AI research pause sparks controversy . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-05-16 . 0261-3077. Among the research cited was "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots", a well-known paper co-authored by Margaret Mitchell, who previously oversaw ethical AI research at Google. Mitchell, now chief ethical scientist at AI firm Hugging Face, criticised the letter, telling Reuters it was unclear what counted as "more powerful than GPT4".
    "By treating a lot of questionable ideas as a given, the letter asserts a set of priorities and a narrative on AI that benefits the supporters of FLI," she said. "Ignoring active harms right now is a privilege that some of us don't have.".
  16. Web site: 2023-03-30 . Musk's AI letter is a 'hot mess' of hype, say critics . 2023-05-16 . France 24 . en. But Timnit Gebru, whose academic paper was cited to support that claim, wrote on Twitter on Thursday that her article actually warns against making such inflated claims about AI.
    "They basically say the opposite of what we say and cite our paper," she wrote.
    Her co-author Emily Bender said the letter was a "hot mess" and was "just dripping with AI hype"..
  17. Web site: Goswami . Rohan . 2023-04-14 . OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses letter from Musk and other tech leaders calling for A.I. pause . 2023-05-16 . CNBC . en.
  18. News: News at a glance: Benin Bronze's source, a supermassive black hole, and Aboriginal knowledge . 18 May 2023 . www.science.org . en.
  19. News: Sawers . Paul . 18 April 2023 . In letter to EU, open source bodies say Cyber Resilience Act could have 'chilling effect' on software development . TechCrunch . 16 May 2023.
  20. News: Vaughan-Nichols . Steven J. . EU attempts to secure software could hurt open source . en . www.theregister.com . 16 May 2023.
  21. News: Milman . Oliver . 2023-03-01 . Deflecting sun's rays to cool overheating Earth needs study, scientists say . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-05-16 . 0261-3077.
  22. News: Milman . Oliver . 2022-12-25 . Can geoengineering fix the climate? Hundreds of scientists say not so fast . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-05-16 . 0261-3077.
  23. News: Bokat-Lindell . Spencer . 2023-01-11 . Opinion Should We Block the Sun to Counter Climate Change? . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-16 . 0362-4331.
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  25. News: Harvey . Fiona . Fiona Harvey . 21 March 2022 . Universities must reject fossil fuel cash for climate research, say academics . 16 May 2023 . The Guardian.
  26. News: Limb . Lottie . 25 July 2022 . Cambridge University set to rename BP Institute - but is it enough? . en . euronews . 16 May 2023.
  27. News: Tabuchi . Hiroko . Hiroko Tabuchi . 16 August 2022 . Kicking oil companies out of school . The New York Times . 16 May 2023.
  28. Web site: Fossil Free Research . 16 May 2023 . Fossil Free Research . en.
  29. News: Fazackerley . Anna . 2022-04-02 . 'No hope for science in Russia': the academics trying to flee to the west . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-05-16 . 0261-3077.
  30. News: Russia-West scientific collaboration a casualty of Ukraine war . 16 May 2023 . France 24 . 26 March 2022 . en.
  31. News: Chawla . Dalmeet Singh . 2022-05-27 . Russian Academics Aim to Punish Colleagues Who Backed Ukraine Invasion . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-16 . 0362-4331.
  32. Web site: Открытое письмо российских ученых и научных журналистов против войны с Украиной . Т-инвариант / T-invariant . 16 May 2023 . ru-RU . 24 February 2022.
  33. News: 6 October 2022 . Four hundred philosophers declare animal exploitation 'unjust and morally indefensible' . en . Le Monde.fr .
  34. Web site: Over 100 academics support proposed changes to Malta's abortion laws . 2023-05-16 . Times of Malta . 5 December 2022 . en-gb.
  35. Web site: Schlosberg . Mark . 2022-04-07 . Scientists to Biden: Don't Ramp Up Fossil Fuels . 2023-05-16 . Food & Water Watch . en-US.
  36. Web site: UCS Delivers Letter to White House Signed by More Than 1,500 Scientists Urging Biden to Cut Emissions by at Least Half by 2030 Union of Concerned Scientists . www.ucsusa.org . 16 May 2023 . en.
  37. Web site: Ketcham . Christopher . 2022-06-29 . Logging is destroying southern forests — and dividing US environmentalists . 2023-05-16 . Grist . en-us.
  38. Web site: 2021-11-08 . Scientists urge Biden to remove logging, fossil fuels, biomass from budget bills . 2023-05-16 . Mongabay Environmental News . en-US.
  39. Web site: Open Letter to President Biden and Members of Congress from Scientists: It is essential to Remove Climate-Harming Logging and Fossil Fuel Provisions from Reconciliation and Infrastructure Bills . 17 May 2023.
  40. News: Sanger . David E. . 2021-12-17 . Hundreds of Scientists Ask Biden to Cut the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-16 . 0362-4331.
  41. Web site: Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review . 17 May 2023.
  42. Web site: To Avert 'Uncontrollable Climate Chaos,' Scientists Tell Biden to Stop Backing Fossil Fuels . 2023-05-16 . www.commondreams.org . en.
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  44. News: Bearak . Max . It's Not Just Willow: Oil and Gas Projects Are Back in a Big Way . 17 May 2023 . The New York Times . 6 April 2023.
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  47. News: 2021-07-14 . Over 100 academic & IP experts sign an open letter in support of TRIPS waiver . The Times of India . 2023-05-16 . 0971-8257.
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  49. Web site: Op-ed: It's time to stop subsidizing overfishing SeafoodSource . 2023-05-16 . www.seafoodsource.com . en.
  50. Web site: Australia . University of Western . Scientists join international push to ban harmful fisheries subsidies . 2023-05-16 . phys.org . en.
  51. Sumaila . U. Rashid . Skerritt . Daniel J. . Schuhbauer . Anna . Villasante . Sebastian . Cisneros-Montemayor . Andrés M. . Sinan . Hussain . Burnside . Duncan . Abdallah . Patrízia Raggi . Abe . Keita . Addo . Kwasi A. . Adelsheim . Julia . Adewumi . Ibukun J. . Adeyemo . Olanike K. . Adger . Neil . Adotey . Joshua . 2021-10-29 . WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies . Science . en . 374 . 6567 . 544 . 10.1126/science.abm1680 . 34709891 . 240153044 . 0036-8075. 11585/836841 . free .
  52. Web site: Sealy . Amanda . 2022-04-10 . This invisible Covid-19 mitigation measure is finally getting the attention it deserves . 2023-05-16 . CNN . en.
  53. Morawska . Lidia . Milton . Donald K . 2020-07-06 . It Is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) . Clinical Infectious Diseases . 71 . 9 . en . 2311–2313 . 10.1093/cid/ciaa939 . 1058-4838 . 7454469 . 32628269.
  54. News: 4 October 2017 . Philippines academics condemn Duterte's deadly war on drugs - Study International . 16 May 2023.
  55. News: Yang . Jeff . The problem with 'the letter' . 8 September 2020 . CNN.
  56. News: Schuessler . Jennifer . An Open Letter on Free Expression Draws a Counterblast . July 12, 2020 . The New York Times . July 10, 2020.
  57. News: Ketcham . Christopher . Gibbs . Jeff . 31 January 2021 . Op-Ed: Collapseologists are warning humanity that business-as-usual will make the Earth uninhabitable . Los Angeles Times . 16 May 2023.
  58. News: Cox . Lisa . 19 September 2019 . Hundreds of Australian academics declare support for climate rebellion . The Guardian . 16 May 2023.
  59. News: Taylor . Matthew . 13 February 2019 . Academics back UK schools' climate change strikes . The Guardian . 16 May 2023.
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  63. Web site: 2016-12-01 . 2,300 Leading Scientists Send Trump A Clear Warning: We're Watching You . 2023-05-16 . HuffPost . en.
  64. News: Kiss . Jemima . 14 May 2015 . Dear Google: open letter from 80 academics on 'right to be forgotten' . The Guardian . 16 May 2023.
  65. Sterling . Bruce . Internet engineers don't like PIPA and SOPA . en-US . Wired . 2023-05-16 . 1059-1028.
  66. Web site: Eckersley . Parker Higgins and Peter . 2011-12-15 . An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S. Congress . 2023-05-16 . Electronic Frontier Foundation . en.
  67. Web site: http://www.religio.ru/arch/24Jul2007/news/15118.html . ru:После Глазычева православная общественность взялась за академика Гинзбурга . July 24, 2007 . russian . April 2, 2010.