I recently received an email from a colleague informing me of a very concerning case regarding censorship of feminist research by the academic publisher Routledge. I have signed an open letter to Routledge and encourage other academics to do so too.

My colleague kindly granted me permission to reproduce the contents of her email on my blog, which are as follows:

Some of you will be aware of an ongoing case involving the book Sexual Misconduct in Academia: Informing an Ethics of Care in the University (2023).

The book was published by Routledge in March 2023 and contained several chapters by different authors, analysing the topic from a range of perspectives. One chapter, written by Lieselotte Viaene, Catarina Laranjeiro, and Miye Nadya Tom, analyses misconduct within an unnamed research centre, describing the culture and social norms that enabled the harassment to occur. Although no institutions or individuals were identified in the chapter, speculation about their identity led one professor to confirm that he was the “star professor” discussed in the book; he then threatened the authors in the press with legal action. Shortly after that, the book was temporarily withdrawn from circulation while Routledge – Taylor & Francis Group looked into “complaints” and a cease-and-desist letter it had received about the chapter. On 31 August 2023 the authors of Chapter 12 were informed that Routledge would no longer be making that chapter available. It is not yet clear what will happen to the rest of the book, but its page on the Routledge website has disappeared.

Colleagues across the world are deeply concerned with Routledge’s decision to remove from circulation a peer-reviewed feminist study of workplace harassment and sexual misconduct and have written, and signed, an open letter on the issue. The letter asks Routledge to:

• publicly state why they have removed the chapter and the book itself from their website
• reinstate chapter 12 and the book as a whole

The open letter can be found here:

• in English: https://www.buala.org/en/mukanda/open-letter-to-routledge-taylor-francis-group
• in Spanish: https://www.buala.org/fr/mukanda/carta-abierta-a-routledge-taylor-francis-group
• in Portuguese: https://www.buala.org/pt/mukanda/censura-academica-em-situacoes-de-mas-condutas-sexuais-e-abuso-de-poder-na-nossa-academia-na

We are inviting colleagues to sign the open letter. If you’d like to do so, click here.