"Just received the following notification as an Editor of a Journal. What do you think? May be a way around this is to anonymise all journal reviews; i.e. the reviewer has not idea where the paper is coming from and who wrote it. Isn't science above politics? What about all the MSers in Iran; should we ignore them?"
US editors and reviewers can no longer handle submissions by
authors employed by the Government
The Office
of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury
administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. As a result of OFAC
sanctions we have been made aware that US editors, US Elsevier staff and US
reviewers are now unable to handle scientific manuscripts where any of the
authors are employed by the Government of Iran. This includes the research
departments of the various oil and gas companies which are deemed to be
entities of the Government of Iran.
We realize
that this OFAC regulation will cause some inconvenience in your role as an
editor but Elsevier is legally obliged to ensure that all reasonable efforts
are made to avoid submissions from Iranian government agencies and companies
being handled by US editors, US Elsevier staff and US reviewers. Please be
aware that editors, Elsevier staff and reviewers from outside the US may still
handle these manuscripts and that this OFAC regulation does not pertain to
manuscripts where the authors are based at Iranian academic and research
institutes. Manuscripts originating from a clinical setting that are not
government run, for example, a hospital or clinical practice are also exempt
from this regulation.
To view the
official OFAC regulation, please click here.
In practice
the result of these sanctions will mean that:
- Submissions
where any author is based in Iran, and is not at an academic and research
institution, cannot be handled by US-based editors, US Elsevier staff, US
reviewers, or any US citizens based outside of the US.
- If
an Iranian author has dual affiliations (eg. university and government),
their submission cannot be handled by US-based editors, US Elsevier staff,
US reviewers, or any US citizens based outside of the US.
- Affiliations
of Iranian authors should therefore be checked, and any manuscripts which
fall under this OFAC regulation delegated to a non-US editor, before
handling.
- When
assigning reviewers, affiliations of Iranian authors should also be
checked, and any papers which fall under this OFAC regulation should only
be sent to non-US reviewers. (As an editor you should do what is
reasonable to determine the nationality of a reviewer e.g. check their
email address. This check does not extend to emailing reviewers directly
to confirm their nationality or location). Unless there is specific
knowledge that a non-US-based reviewer is a US citizen, editors can send
such submissions to reviewers based outside the US.
- If
your journal workflow involves all submissions being handled by US-based
Elsevier staff, they will reject these manuscripts outright before they
reach you.
- Should
there be no suitably qualified editor or reviewer, please reject the manuscript
outright.
When
rejecting manuscripts which fall under this OFAC regulation please use the new
EES Decision Term "Reject - OFAC Sanctions" and the following text:
"As
a result of OFAC sanctions all editorial staff who are US-based/US nationals
are unable to handle scientific manuscripts which are authored by Iranian
scientists, employed by the Government of Iran. Based on this OFAC regulation
we are unfortunately unable to handle your manuscript. We wish you success with
your submission to another Journal."
We
apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. If you do have any questions
please contact your Publisher.
Labels: Iran, Uncle Sam