Many countries, mainly European ones, have taken steps to protect the integrity of science in their constitutional systems, expressly recognising freedom of research and teaching arts and science. Article 33 of the Italian Constitution1 explicitly states that “the arts and sciences as well as their teaching are free”. 

As more progressive governments move towards better openness, transparency and accountability, we cannot notice Turkish blatant refusal to follow the others.

Lack of academic freedom has always been a hallmark of the Turkish higher education system. Bureaucracy continues to hamper the efficiency and general quality of science in the country. Any resistance of academics and students is met by strict repercussions from the Turkish state apparatus including the government, the military and the YÖK (Turkey's Higher Education Board). The attacks on academic freedom have further escalated following last month's unsuccessful coup attempt.
 
What does it mean for the science community in Turkey?

  1. Internet censorship: Turkish telecommunication authority can block any website without any prior communication regarding the offending content.
  2. Professors and teachers are forced to resign while academics living abroad are being recalled. Ministry of education forced resignations of 1,577 deans of public and private universities in the country, revoked the licences of 21,000 teachers working in private institutions, and suspended 15,200 state education employees.
  3. Ban on international travel for all academics associated with Turkish universities makes them unable to attend worldwide conferences, network and share knowledge with others. This undermines all national efforts in research and higher education and may damage the opportunities for Turkish academics to participate fully and freely in global research programmes.


"Scientific research needs freedom. There is no room left for science under the pressure and regulations of Turkey’s Higher Education Board [YÖK]” - Harvard Professor Dr. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil



Turkish actions are example of a direct attack on freedom of expressing opinions and ideas, a foundation of an open, democratic society. Freedom of scientific research is a basic civil and political right. Intimidating top-down control and blurred distinction between criminal investigations and political punishment will ultimately eradicate free speech and academic creativity.


"Research needs free movement to thrive" - Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel-prize winning scientist


Sadly Turkey is not the only country taking steps that can hinder its academic progress. British exit from the EU might very well jeopardise the world-class science for which the UK was known. At the moment UK universities receive 10% of their research funding from the EU, amounting to more than £1B a year. These funds won't be easy to replace even if the future British government will agree to cover them. What is irreplaceable though, is the ease of collaboration between the UK and other european universities. 

What does science need to thrive?


  1. Freedom of expression: all results, even negative ones can contribute to academic development. Not disclosing research results leads to waste of time and resources.
  2. High level of collaboration: a good example is the convergence of the life sciences with the physical sciences and engineering, which results in more rapid progress, better detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases.
  3. Open science: sharing research, data and general knowledge help others learn and progress faster
  4. Transparency: we should prevent situations in which researchers don’t disclose the results of their clinical trials, choosing instead to tweak them to increase their chances of getting published in prestigious journals.
  5. Sustainable long-term investment in science: pressure to "publish or perish" can discourage innovative research. Hyper-competition stunts scientific curiosity and productivity, breeds fabrication and carelessness in the publication of data, and leads to a waste of valuable resources and intellectual capital. The general policy should maximize the potential for scientific discovery and minimize the loss of talented researchers who can contribute to science. 
The most rapid progress occurs in places where the ideas are exchanged freely. Too much interference from centralised entities - such as governments - leads to inefficiency. It slows things down, and results in lost research opportunities. We all benefit from living in a society in which scientific research utilises the benefits of past research.

Do you have another point of view or would like to share ideas how to make science thrive? Let us know!