Preprint Server Removes 'Inflammatory' Papers in Superconductor Controversy

sciencehabit writes: A debate over claims of room temperature superconductivity has now boiled over into the realm of scientific publishing. Administrators of arXiv, the widely used physics preprint server, recently removed or refused to post several papers from the opposing sides, saying their manuscripts include inflammatory content and unprofessional language. ArXiv has also banned one of the authors, Jorge Hirsch, a theoretical physicist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), from posting papers for 6 months. The ban is "very unfair," Hirsch says. "I can't work if I can't publish papers." To some other scientists, arXiv's ban and removal of papers amount to stifling scientific debate. "The scientists that care about the issue and have the expertise to evaluate the arguments on both sides should be allowed to do so by accessing the preprints in question," Nigel Goldenfeld, a physicist at UCSD, wrote in an email to a wide range of physicists last week. "The alternative is that for cases such as this, we'll return to the pre-arXiv days when the science of the day is discussed in privately circulated preprints that are not accessible to the wider community." Daniel Arovas, another UCSD physicist, agreed: "Squelching what is essentially a purely scientific exchange -- even one where the respective parties engage in some distasteful accusations -- is highly problematic." But arXiv administrators argue the decision wasn't about science. "There are no papers in this whole chain that were rejected because we did not like the scientific content," says Ralph Wijers, a physicist at the University of Amsterdam who is the preprint server's board chair. "People's emotions became too affected. They got acrimonious."

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