When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Springer Nature joined many Western institutions in condemning the war. The academic publishing giant announced it would halt new sales in Russia and Belarus and expressed support for Ukrainian researchers. Yet more than four years later, Springer continues to distribute roughly 200 Russian scientific journals through a partnership with Pleiades Publishing, a company that specializes in translating and distributing Russian academic publications to international audiences.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Springer Nature is one of the world’s most influential academic publishers, producing thousands of journals and books annually, including the flagship scientific journal Nature. That relationship has come under growing scrutiny. A recent report by Ukrainian scholars Oleksii Plastun and Valeriia Kotelnykova argues that some journals distributed through the partnership are linked to sanctioned Russian institutions, repeat Kremlin narratives, and identify occupied Ukrainian territories as part of Russia. Among the examples cited is an article published in the Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences that, according to the report’s authors, repeated familiar Kremlin narratives about Ukraine, including claims about Ukrainian nationalism, discrimination against Russian speakers, and Western influence. Springer disputes the implication that the arrangement conflicts with sanctions.
Despite Public Break With Russia, Springer Continues Publishing Hundreds of Russian Journals
Blatant propaganda may work on the masses, but a more subtle variant aimed at the intelligentsia occurs through scholarly publications.
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