CIVIS calls on academic publishers to intensify support for Ukrainian universities

Call for academic publishers to provide immediate assistance to Ukrainian universities

Beyond the visible destruction and devastation, the war in Ukraine is also having insidious consequences for education and research in the country. It is the very future of the country that is at stake.

Universities outside of Ukraine are deeply concerned about the situation of Ukrainian universities, which are catastrophically affected by the conflict, in particular their students, and staff. One of the consequences of the war is the difficulty to access the scientific literature needed to maintain quality teaching and research.

Some academic publishers have already committed themselves to providing access to some of their publications for students and staff of Ukrainian universities. We welcome these efforts but ask all academic publishers to expand and intensify these efforts and organize ways to provide access to their online libraries in all fields of science to Ukrainian universities. Other scientific publishers should join the efforts made so far and these efforts should include all domains of science. These efforts would be understood as temporary emergency measures during these times of extreme distress.

Preserving quality higher education and scientific research in Ukraine is an absolute necessity to prepare the rebuilding and restoration of a nation devastated by a brutal war. It is incumbent on academic publishers to provide the necessary resources accordingly.

CIVIS Alliance members:

• Aix-Marseille Université
• National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
• Université libre de Bruxelles
• University of Bucharest
• University of Glasgow
• Université de Lausanne
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• Sapienza Università di Roma
• Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg
• Stockholm University
• Universität Tübingen