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The Story
Fudan’s listing turned an accepted paper into a compliance problem, and ISU chose the safest path for federal funding.
ISU treated a Fudan coauthorship as a funding-compliance risk after Fudan entered the Section 1286 List. The journal followed the university’s request, but the case shows that the policy’s practical reach is extending into publication credit and routine scholarly collaboration.
- ComplianceUniversities may interpret affiliation-based restrictions broadly to protect access to federal research money.
- AuthorshipResearchers can lose publication credit even when their scientific contribution is not challenged.
- ISU said it does not allow its researchers to co-publish with collaborators from institutions on the 1286 List and requested Zappala’s removal.
- The Defense Department’s restrictions cover fundamental research collaboration and warn that affiliation with listed entities may affect federal-funding eligibility.
- The journal editor said he complied because Zappala was forced to agree and risked his employment by resisting.
Deeper Insight
Fudan landed on a security list. Zappala lost his byline, showing how national defense can rewrite the record of research.
The paper was accepted, then Idaho State asked Foundations of Physics to remove Emanuele Zappala after coauthor Antonino Marciano’s Fudan affiliation became a Section 1286 concern. The journal complied, though the science was never disputed. A funding safeguard has crossed into authorship, making a border part of the scholarly record.
- What it could changeA security designation could decide authorship before any scientific misconduct is found.
- How it touches todayU.S.-China restrictions are already shrinking collaboration and citations for researchers who work across borders.
- Our futureResearch could become safer for funding offices and poorer for everyone trying to follow the truth.
- The case shows how a security designation can affect authorship even though the reported dispute concerns affiliation and funding risk, not the paper’s scientific content.
- Analysis of U.S.-China tensions found publication rates fell 1.9% and citation rates 7.1% for U.S. scientists with China collaborators compared with other international collaborators.
- Broader restrictions may cut U.S. researchers off from strong Chinese research networks and from collaborations that outperform domestic-only work in several strategic fields.
Sources · 7
Featured · Analysis · retractionwatch.com
U.S. university asks journal to remove professor’s name from paper with coauthor in China
A physics journal has removed a professor’s name from an article at his university’s request, because a coauthor works at a university in China that has been flagged for national security concerns. “The decision of the journal has been of course to consult the author,” Carlo Rovelli, the editor of Foundations of Physics , a Springer Nature title, told Retraction Watch. “As for the author, it was a
Read sourceAnalysis · thecollegefix.com
Journal removes Idaho State U. professor’s name from paper due to co-author’s links to China | The College Fix
Journal removes Idaho State U. professor’s name from paper due to co-author’s links to China | The College Fix # Journal removes Idaho State U. professor’s name from paper due to co-author’s links to China Posted on November 4, 2026 By Oscar Mackey - University of Tennessee Knoxville Chinese and Ame
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What Is the Impact of U.S.-China Tensions on U.S. Science? # What Is the Impact of U.S.-China Tensions on U.S. Science? Dec 01, 2022 INSIGHTS - Analysis of scientific papers in the database PubMed reveals that NIH investigations into hundreds of U.S. scientists since 2018 have brought about a 1.9% d
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