Why I Cut Ties with Science’s Top Publisher

In my more than 30 years working in scientific research, I regarded the publishing group Nature Portfolio as the world’s leading science publisher. I have regularly read their papers as well as reviewed and published papers in their journals. As a chemistry professor at the University of Southern California, my interests have focused on topics related to theoretical and computational quantum chemistry. Publishing a paper in a Nature Portfolio journal was always a significant accomplishment, a matter of pride.

But in recent years, Nature Portfolio has sacrificed the epistemic standards of scientific publishing in unrelenting pursuit of a social justice agenda centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In doing so, it has lost its credibility as a truth-seeking enterprise.