U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says federal scientists may be banned from publishing in the world’s most respected medical journals, calling them corrupt and planning to replace them with government-run alternatives.
Niha Masih reports for The Washington Post.
In short:
- Kennedy accused top journals like The Lancet, JAMA, and The New England Journal of Medicine of being tools of Big Pharma and said federal agencies would stop submitting research to them.
- Instead, HHS would publish its own “preeminent” journals to house taxpayer-funded research — raising alarms about politicizing science and undermining credibility.
- This comes as the Trump administration slashes public health funding, pushes anti-vaccine messaging, and releases reports that contradict scientific consensus, all while thousands of federal scientists face layoffs.
Key quote:
“Banning NIH-funded researchers from publishing in leading medical journals and requiring them to publish only in journals that carry the RFK Jr. seal of approval would delegitimize taxpayer-funded research.”
— Adam Gaffney, public health researcher and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School
Why this matters:
Cutting off access to peer-reviewed medical journals doesn’t just isolate U.S. research — it threatens global health standards and further politicizes the nation’s scientific institutions. Science doesn’t thrive under censorship, and undermining scientific integrity doesn't bode well for maintaining robust public health systems.
Read more:
