Banning words to silence scholars. Disappearing databases to prevent access to information. Canceling funding of research projects because of who they focus on. Suppressing articles and reports that don’t confirm a political agenda. Firing expert staff precisely because of their expertise. These are just some of the stories illustrating the U.S. government’s anti-science acts of censorship and the resulting damage. They are indeed powerful stories, but they are all too easy to write off as a series of unconnected incidents rather than an intentional pattern. Fighting back against this attack on knowledge requires bringing that pattern into the open where it can’t be explained away or ignored.
What we’re doing about it
#DefendResearch is collaborating with Research Consulting to take that challenge on, through a rigorous, evidence-based analysis of the aggregated impact of U.S. government censorship, focusing first on public health and epidemiology, areas of significant, immediate concern. Research Consulting has already conducted a successful, pro bono proof of concept phase and has publicly shared the full project’s methodology. Every search string, every coding decision and every quote we rely on will be documented and open to inspection and domain experts are providing early stage peer review, which will be expanded to cover subsequent stage findings and outputs before final release.
Our ask of you
We are calling on all those who understand and care about this moment’s profound threat to research and knowledge to contribute to this campaign. The result, published in October, will be a public evidence base and a set of tools built for the people who need to act on it: visualizations, a policy brief, datasets and clear talking points. All the outputs will be free, openly licensed, and available for advocates, librarians, journalists, researchers and legislators to reuse.
We’re very grateful to one of #DefendResearch’s organizational signatories, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) for generously making a seed donation to get this fundraising campaign started, and we encourage you to join them. Any amount you can afford will make a difference, be valued, and be appreciated, no matter how small or large.
Let’s stop the Trump administration’s censorship of science in its tracks by making it clear just how much damage has already been inflicted and how much our future is at risk if we don’t act now!
Who we are
This project is a #DefendResearch initiative, with Research Consulting as the delivery partner.
#DefendResearch is a grassroots initiative, founded in early 2025, that mobilizes scholarly communications and academic research communities to resist government censorship of academic research and defend the principles of academic freedom and scientific integrity. We document and raise awareness of threats to research integrity and freedom of inquiry, convene experts and affected scholars, and provide researchers and the public with concrete ways to advocate for the free creation, sharing, and preservation of knowledge. In February 2025, #DefendResearch released the “Declaration to Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship,” which has received over 5,000 signatories as of August 2026. It argues that limits on research topics, terminology, collaboration, and access to data undermine academic freedom and the integrity of knowledge creation.
Follow us on Bluesky: @defendresearch.bsky.social
Research Consulting is a mission-driven consultancy, based in the UK, that has delivered over 400 projects with universities, publishers and vendors, higher education sector bodies, public bodies and funding agencies. We care about what is happening to research in the United States, which is why we are doing this, but we are wholly independent and in receipt of no US federal funding. We've delivered similar studies across the research sector, for organizations including the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the G7 Open Science Working Group, Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Where your money goes
Research Consulting is a private company, so you should know exactly what your donation pays for. We ran the first phase of this work for free, and have kept going at our own expense since. It has cost us close to $30,000 so far, representing the value of in-house staff time and funding of a PhD student from the University of Nottingham, UK, and we expect the finished study to cost in excess of $50,000. This means we're looking to recover only half of our costs through donations, with the remainder contributed by us in line with our company vision: 'To create a future where knowledge is valued and used to benefit society'.
Please note: Research Consulting Limited is a private UK company, not a registered charity, and this donation is not tax-deductible.
Giving as an organisation?
If you're contributing on behalf of an organisation and need an invoice or bank transfer, email finance@research-consulting.com and we'll arrange it.