Science agencies reportedly restricting international collaboration

Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NASA are reportedly imposing new limitations on international scientific collaborations. NIH is allegedly directing grantees to ask permission for any co-authorship with a scholar affiliated with a foreign institution, while NASA has reportedly told some grantees that papers co-authored with researchers in China may violate its rules. 

According to the NSF’s Science and Engineering Indicators, researchers in the U.S. collaborated with international partners on 40% of their articles in 2022. Approximately 23% of all scientific papers globally involve international co-authors. 

NIH increases scrutiny on “foreign components”

Some NIH grantees said they have been asked to remove published papers with foreign co-authors from annual progress reports to the agency. This could include papers with contributions from visiting colleagues, students or researchers temporarily working in the U.S.; foreign researchers who donated research material or scientists who moved abroad after conducting work in the U.S. 

“NIH is flagging just the fact that this co-authorship was there as evidence of a foreign component without looking further. Everybody’s very confused by this interpretation right now,” Kristin West, director of research ethics and compliance at COGR, told Science. 

Washington University published a notice last month stating that the “NIH is flagging Research Performance Progress Reports where reported publications include authors located outside of the United States.” Brown University published a similar statement, saying that projects involving a foreign component are “carefully scrutinized” by NIH. 

Since 2003, the NIH has required American investigators to obtain agency approval before publishing a paper with a “foreign component”, which the agency defines as “the performance of a significant scientific element of the NIH-supported project outside of the United States.” However, the definition may now be expanding to include any co-authorship with someone associated with a foreign institution, even if all the work was conducted in the U.S., West told Science. 

Science also reported that an email from NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences to research-center grantees required institutions to promise that U.S. authors of papers NIH flagged with foreign co-authors will not collaborate with them in the future. 

NASA’s ban on Chinese collaboration

In a similar move, NASA has told some grantees that they may be in violation of the Wolf Amendment, which prohibits the use of NASA grant money for bilateral collaborations with entities in China.  

West said that NASA told some grantees that they may be subject to a lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act, which prevents willful, fraudulent use of government funds. 

The Wolf Amendment, enacted in 2011, prohibits NASA from funding any work that involves bilateral participation, collaboration or coordination with the government of China or any Chinese-owned entity, regardless of whether NASA funds are used overseas. This has previously not applied to Chinese nationals who did not represent their government in an official capacity. However, institutions such as Northwestern University are advising NASA-funded researchers that any individuals with connections to Chinese institutions are prohibited from participating in NASA-funded activities, regardless of nationality. 

In an email to R&D World, NASA said it had not adopted a new interpretation of the Wolf Amendment and has not issued new guidance on this matter. It said the restriction on using agency funds for bilateral activities with Chinese-owned entities “has been consistently applied to NASA grants since the Wolf Amendment was introduced by Congress in 2011.”

The agency also said it “instituted a rigorous research security program” last fall with “senior-level leadership, active monitoring and close coordination with law enforcement.”

Is geopolitical competition harming U.S. science?

China has launched various talent recruitment plans to drive innovation in the country. The FBI claims these plans incentivize members to steal foreign technologies to advance China’s national, military and economic goals. China recruits professors, researchers and students to apply for talent plans. It allows people with existing jobs in the U.S. to participate part-time so they can maintain their access to intellectual property, trade secrets, pre-publication data and methods and U.S. funding for research, the FBI states. 

Critics argue that restrictions on collaboration are harming U.S. science. A study conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania found that fewer Chinese scientists are studying and staying in America and ethnically Chinese scientists in the U.S. are becoming less productive due to tensions between the countries. 

“There’s quite a big body of work at this point that documents that when researchers lose a collaborator, it permanently hurts their productivity,” said Britta Glennon, an associate professor at The Wharton School who studies international science collaboration, “So when you’re talking about these U.S.-based scientists who suddenly lose a foreign collaborator because they’re not allowed to work with them anymore, there’s no way that it doesn’t impact their productivity.”

A 2023 study found that 65% of researchers are worried about collaborations with China, and 86% perceive that it is harder to recruit international students compared to five years prior. 

“My biggest concern is about the pipeline,” Glennon said, “Talent that firms are trying to hire is going to dry up. Future talent may not choose the U.S. anymore, and the long-term consequences of that are really serious.”