VOLUME 69, NUMBER 6
MARCH 19, 2004
© Copyright 2004 by the American Chemical Society
Un in ten d ed Con sequ en ces?
Because of a ruling by the Treasury Department’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), this issue of The
J ournal of Organic Chemistry does not contain two
articles that should have appeared by now. They were
submitted by scientists from Iran, reviewed, and ac-
cepted, and one was at the galley proof stage in Decem-
ber. Since then, publication has been delayed while the
ACS along with other publishers seek clarification of the
OFAC ruling. Although this topic was discussed by Rudy
Baum in the J anuary 26, 2004, issue of Chemical &
Engineering News, I feel compelled to speak directly as
Editor-in-Chief of J OC because of the damage the OFAC
embargo will have on the reputation of the J ournal as a
leading international forum for publication of research
in organic chemistry. Specifically, J OC, along with all
the other journals of the American Chemical Society and
other American publishers, is prohibited from providing
comments from peer review and any editorial services
to authors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Cuba, and
North Korea. According to OFAC’s ruling, manuscripts
that are accepted by the J ournal may only be reproduced
in exactly the same form in which they are received.
OFAC apparently relies on the International Emer-
gency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) passed by Congress
in 1977, although this act was modified in 1988 by the
“Berman Amendment” to provide a specific exemption for
“information or informational materials including but not
limited to, publications.” This limitation of the authority
granted to the President under the IEEPA was further
clarified by Congress in 1994 in the “Free Trade in Ideas”
Amendment to state that “no embargo may prohibit or
restrict directly or indirectly the import or export of
information that is protected under the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution.” Despite the clear intent of
Congress, in J uly of 2003, OFAC acted to severely restrict
the scope of transactions related to information and
informational materials in a manner that interferes with
the normal peer review and editorial activities that form
the basis for quality control and unfettered dissemination
of scientific information. In separate rulings, OFAC
specifically included prohibitions against assisting au-
thors in the preparation or editing of their manuscripts
as well as peer review activities that would result in any
modification of a manuscript before publication. OFAC
suggested that publishers might apply for a license to
exempt them from these regulations on a country-by-
country basis. This inadequate proposal will result in
substantial delays for publication of manuscripts from
the embargoed countries and undermine the rights
granted to publishers under the First Amendment.
Who will be punished by OFAC’s rulings? Surely the
scientists from Iran whose peer-reviewed articles were
embargoed in this issue of J OC could have published
their work in non-U.S. journals and will probably do so
in the future. Who reaps the greater benefit from these
publicationssthe country that provided financial support
for the research or the countries where scientists read
about the results and are provided with experimental
protocols? Whose scientific journals are sullied in the eyes
of the international communitysthose of Iran or the
American Chemical Society? The short-sighted punitive
rulings by OFAC will, in fact, inflict much more damage
on U.S. scientists and U.S. scientific publications than
on our colleagues in blacklisted countries who seek to
publish in our journals. And does this punitive approach
not alienate precisely those individuals who have shown
good will to the United States by seeking to publish in
our journals? Are these consequences of a badly flawed
short-sighted policy unintended? I can only hope so.
At the time this editorial was written, ACS was
vigorously working with the scientific publishing com-
munity to have the OFAC rulings rescinded. At this
point, several options are available, including seeking a
restraining order against the ruling. In light of these
positive actions taken in concert with the publishing
community, ACS has decided to end the moratorium and
return to business as usual. In the meantime, J OC
continues to review manuscripts from embargoed coun-
tries for publication.
While the ACS works to have this usurpation of First
Amendment rights overturned, I ask for forbearance from
the organic chemistry community, in the United States
and in other countries, and hope that the Editors of this
J ournal can continue to rely on your good will as authors,
readers, and reviewers during this difficult and distaste-
ful time. One of the authors from Iran, whose manuscript
has been in limbo, graciously offered to withdraw his
accepted manuscript if its publication caused me embar-
rassment. I am indeed embarrassed, not because of the
manuscript but because of the actions of my own govern-
ment. While ACS pursues legal options, I urge you to
write or call the White House and the members of your
Congressional delegation to ask them to take immediate
action to rescind the outrageous OFAC rulings.
C. Dale Poulter, Editor-in-Chief
February 12, 2004
J O040137Y
10.1021/jo040137y CCC: $27.50 © 2004 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 03/12/2004
J . Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 1761
1761
Fournier, Jean-Hugues
