CV NEWS FEED // The Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) announced March 3 that several CLI scholars began arbitration against a publication company that retracted three studies the scholars conducted, two of which related to the dangers of chemical abortions.
CLI alleges that Sage Publications, Inc.’s retractions were “politically motivated” and that Sage removed the studies after a reader complained to the company over the authors’ pro-life affiliations, according to a March 3 press release from the Institute.
In October 2024, attorneys with the organizations Alliance Defending Freedom and Consovoy McCarthy PLLC filed a petition on behalf of the CLI authors, requesting that the Superior Court of California for the County of Ventura grant the right to arbitrate the dispute. The retractions were made in February 2024, according to the petition document. By this process of arbitration, the petitioners hope to reach a solution to the issue determined by a third party.
The petition states that Sage accepted the three studies to its medical journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology “and publicly praised them for their scientific rigor.” The studies’ lead author, James Studnicki, Sc.D., M.P.H., was on the editorial board for the journal, but then Sage removed him from the board when the studies were retracted, according to the petition.
Studnicki argued in CLI’s March 5 press release that Sage put “politics over publication ethics” when it retracted the studies.
“There was no legitimate reason for retracting the papers, and Sage did this without offering a valid objection to their findings,” said Studnicki, CLI’s vice president and director of data analytics.
On February 21, the scholars filed their opening arbitration demand requesting that Sage be required to rescind the retractions. The attorneys claim in the document that Sage’s actions have damaged the reputations of the authors and noted that “the full extent of this harm is difficult, if not impossible to calculate.”
CLI Executive Director Karen Czarnecki spoke in the press release about how the retractions have caused harm to the authors.
“Freedom of speech in medicine is critical for scientific progress. But because of Sage’s retractions, the authors and their research have suffered repeated attacks in the media that have damaged the authors’ reputations,” Czarnecki said. “The authors are now being mistreated in their industry and their research proposals are being inexplicably turned down. That is wrong, and the scientific community deserves better.”
Studnicki said that all researchers should be concerned by the publication company’s actions.
“Good science is open science, and it does not follow a pre-approved narrative. Our scientific institutions must defend principles of open inquiry and commitment to science, not just when it’s convenient for them,” Studnicki said. “Sage’s actions should be of great concern to the entire research community. We remain committed to that pursuit regardless of all attempts to silence and ban our studies and our network of scholars.”
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