20 August 2025 – A new editorial published in AGU Advances by leaders of geoscience journals, including first author Professor Michael Wysession from Washington University’s Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences department, warns that the integrity of American science is in danger due to a recent U.S. executive order. The order would replace scientific experts who lead U.S. scientific organizations with non-scientific political appointees and give them decision-making authority over what science can and cannot be published.

The editorial comes at a time when the current U.S. federal administration has so far issued 186 executive orders, with many seeking to reorganize and control facets of existing American institutions. The editorial reflects growing concerns among experts in scientific publishing that years of scientific advancement benefiting the U.S. military, technology, and economy could be reversed.

“For over half a century, American science has set the Gold Standard for scientific scholarship, but this single executive order threatens to destroy it,” says Professor Wysession. “The American people trust scientists at more than twice the amount they trust politicians, and that’s because science works. A politician could never build a cell phone. Historically, Republican and Democratic politicians alike have trusted American scientists to lead the process of scientific and engineering exploration. And this why Americans, who are only 4% of the world’s population, get to enjoy the “gold standards” in national economy, technology, and military security. Putting political appointees in charge of what can and can’t be published will throw away that American advantage and put the lives of all Americans at risk.”

In the editorial, titled “The Executive Order ‘Restoring Gold Standard Science’ is Dangerous for America” the authors argue that this executive order is hypocritical, unconstitutional, and potentially catastrophic. Drawing parallels to the disastrous censorship of scientists in past autocratic governments, the authors warn of  harmful implications for the U.S. economy and national security. Enforcing this executive order introduces a political bias into scientific publishing that would threaten the integrity of American science and lead to a breakdown in the public’s ability to trust science. The editorial goes into detailed analysis and deconstruction of the EO’s multiple sections, which make repeated false claims about the current state of American science, promote unethical bottle-necking on the release of scientific research, and threaten censorship of the scientific community.

The editorial adds to ongoing debate over political overreach in science, with potential devastating consequences for the U.S.

The full paper was published in AGU Advances on 20 August 2025 and can be found here.