SciElo in Perspective By Jan Velterop – “Recently, the government of the United States of America (USA) has frightened the scientific community—not just in the country but globally—by censoring terms used in scientific communications and funding proposals. as well as forbidding researchers to communicate with one another, particularly with foreign scientists. A partial list of forbidden terms in scientific publications and research proposals is shown in the notes. It seems unlikely that this applies to all disciplines; technical and engineering disciplines may not be affected. Most of the attention of the government’s censoring efforts seems to have been directed to the areas where ideological contention is present, such as medical and life sciences, environmental and climate sciences, and social sciences. The list of censored terms seems to corroborate that. The idea that this is just relevant to American scientists or scientists from elsewhere working in America is not correct; with researchers the world over being affected. In the Netherlands, for instance, some researchers monitoring the state of forests worldwide, with the help of satellites, have received email messages, ostensibly from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) and labelled “High Priority”. A list of questions was attached with the request to respond with answers within a week of receiving the email. The USGS indicated that sending these messages had been ordered by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB)…”