Springer Nature, academic publishing, and the battle against Chinese censorship

The business world was thrilled last week as Springer Nature, the academic publishing giant, floated its shares in Germany, which led to the company being valued at £3.8 billion. But profits should not come at the expense of scholarly integrity and Springer Nature’s record of capitulation to Chinese censorship ought to have raised far greater concerns than it has. 

In 2018, the New York Times revealed that the publisher, under pressure from the Chinese Communist party (CCP), blocked access to hundreds of articles on its Chinese website. The censored content covered sensitive topics such as Uyghur Rights, Taiwan, Tibet, elite politics, and the genocide occurring in China – subjects which Beijing deems unacceptable for public discussion. 

Further research from the Financial Times uncovered even more alarming details. Springer Nature had removed over 1,000 articles from the websites of two of its journals, Journal of Chinese Political Science and International Politics.