Publishing Papers from Iran

A Chicago Tribune editorial describes an incredibly bad restriction on publishing from Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is warning publishers that they may face serious legal repercussions for editing books, papers or manuscripts from Iran or any other country that is under economic sanctions, on the grounds that such editing amounts to trading with the enemy.

Academics have always led the way in establishing relationships between politically antagonistic countries. Scientists often have the same research goals even if their politics or the politics of their countries differ. Preventing publication of their work (or in this case editing of their work) will unnecessarily restrict the communication between scientists and make opening these doors between countries harder.

More from the IEEE Spectrum.