Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Neutral

It is said that science is neutral, that it has no ideology, and in fact it is. Are scientists neutral? Does the ideology of scientists not influence the world of science?

“Science is science, just as sport is sport. It should not be confused with politics.” This is what we are often told, but science is not an isolated activity in the world, and scientists are not isolated in a hermetic box. Science itself can be neutral, but scientists, as people, have an opinion.

I recently sent a new article to be published in a prestigious journal in the field of diabetes. You may not know it, but when we get results in a project, we write an article with those results and send it to a scientific journal through online platforms.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because I read information that caught my attention when I entered that platform. There was a message from the editor of the magazine that said verbatim: “As a result of the war in Ukraine, I have decided that, for the time being, the journal will not publish studies from Russian institutions. My decision does not mean that investigations carried out by Russian citizens will be rejected, but that there are no approved investigations sponsored by Russian institutions.”

I don't know about you, but I was surprised by this statement. You may think that it is legitimate to put obstacles in the way of publishing researchers from Russian research centres; I will not go into that. But if it were decided to put limits on research centers in countries that spread wars around the world, shouldn’t the United States and Israel be at the top of the list? But no, in this case they have decided, arbitrarily, to boycott Russian research centers and, instead, to put a red carpet on researchers from research centers in the United States and Israel.

Faced with the prevailing trend, the UPV/EHU has recently declared that it will not participate in the investigations promoted or in which Israel participates. For this reason, several researchers from the UPV/EHU have refused to collaborate in projects with researchers from Israel. Other universities and research centres have taken the same route to denounce the Israeli massacre in Gaza.

Two actions. Contradictions or going in the same direction? For some, both will be appropriate. None for others. And for others, one is appropriate and the other is inadequate. Some will think that being for one and against the other is a contradiction, while others think that the logic of both actions is the same. The way we look at the world will determine our point of view and will inevitably condition our daily activity. Scientists as well.