Washington

Fears are growing among biologists that the US government will impose new restrictions on the publication of scientific research.

Such a move has looked increasingly likely in the aftermath of last autumn's bioterrorism attacks in the United States (see Nature 414, 237; 2001).

But it has now emerged that some biologists with government funding are being encouraged to rein in the full publication of their own work. And some agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are for the first time considering the support of classified research.

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) says that some researchers have asked to omit certain information from the methods sections of papers to be submitted to its 11 journals. “We are in a phase of discussion that could lead to fundamental changes in the way we do science,” says Ron Atlas, president-elect of the society.

Atlas says that the ASM does not intend to comply with the researchers' requests. He also says that the society is concerned about the implementation of an order signed last October by President Bush allowing the health department — including the NIH — to fund classified projects.

Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the NIH institute most involved in research related to bioterrorism, says that his agency has not so far asked any of its researchers to keep their work secret. He adds that although most NIH-funded research should remain transparent, restricted access to some of it cannot be ruled out.

“As we move into more research on counter-bioterrorism, we should examine this issue on a case-by-case basis,” Fauci says.

The possibility of restrictions riles many researchers. “Censorship would not accomplish anything but stifling beneficial work that will better prepare us to face a bioterrorism attack in the future,” says Claire Fraser, director of The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, which has been investigating the genome of different strains of the anthrax bacterium for the government.

The New York Times has reported that the White House will issue new guidelines on information security within the a few weeks.

US scientists are not the only ones fretting about new restrictions on their work. Some British researchers say that new export control laws under consideration in the United Kingdom include the export of information and will in theory allow government vetting of scientific material before publication.

David King, the British government's chief scientific adviser, is consulting with scientists on a response to the threat of bioterrorism, but a spokesman for the Cabinet Office declined to elaborate on any plan to restrict access to research findings.