RFK Jr Suggests Creating “In-House” Publications for Government Scientists

The ways of science and medicine in the US continue to be pushed and challenged by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, HHS secretary, as he focuses his efforts on the places where research is published. According to The Washington Post,¹ Kennedy is now looking to ban government scientists from publishing in any of the leading journals, instead proposing the creation of new journals created by his agency.

The specific journals that Kennedy is interested in barring government scientists from publishing in include publications with a noted history in scientific innovation. Specifically, he has called out The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and The Lancet, claiming that “they’re all corrupt.”¹ Kennedy claimed that these journals are all controlled by pharmaceutical companies, leading to his claims of corruption. In theory, this could make the journals biased toward publishing certain research in their books. However, the history of these journals has been outside of the pharmaceutical industry for much of their existence.

NEJM has been publishing scientific research since 1812.² Only 5% of all submissions are published in the journal, which is heavily read and cited for its content. JAMA was first published in 1883³ and receives more than 30 million visits to their websites each year.¹ The Lancet celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2023 and has published more than 10,000 issues.⁴ Attacks on these journals could challenge the perception of research published in America, especially since all of these journals currently go through a peer-review process that establishes the validity of the findings.

RFK Jr may bar government scientists from publishing in respected medical journals. | Image credit: onephoto - stock.adobe.com

Kennedy has suggested that instead of the peer-reviewed journals, all government scientists employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would publish in an in-house publication due to their status of being funded by the government. Being funded by the NIH, Kennedy said, would prove that the scientist is legitimate and good. It is unclear if this in-house publication would also be peer reviewed or if all research would be published with the sole approval of Kennedy and the HHS.

This decision comes after the Trump administration slashed government funding for research through laying off more than 20,000 federal workers at HHS and slashed funding for the NIH by more than $3 billion. Grants at the NIH have also been reduced since the inauguration, totaling $1.81 billion in cuts, with most cuts focusing on research in mental health, minority health and health disparities, and allergy and infectious diseases.⁵ These grants were primarily cut from research universities, including Columbia University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University, among others. Although these cuts have been challenged, the Trump administration has displayed a pattern of trying to control what kind of research is being conducted and published within the country, sparking concern from research scientists in the US.

It is unclear what the timeline of the in-house publication might be, as the announcement of the plan did not specify dates for the potential roll out of the journal. Researchers are now decrying the move, with Adam Gaffney, MD, a public health researcher and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, saying that “banning NIH-funded researchers from publishing in leading medical journals and requiring them to publish only in journals that carry the RFK Jr seal of approval would delegitimize taxpayer-funded research.”¹

References

1. Masih N, Wang AB. RFK Jr. says he may bar scientists from publishing in top medical journals. The Washington Post. Updated May 28, 2025. Accessed May 29, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/05/28/rfk-jr-ban-journals-lancet-jama/

2. About NEJM. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2024. Accessed May 29, 2025. https://www.nejm.org/about-nejm/about-nejm

3. AMA history. AMA. Accessed May 29, 2025. https://www.ama-assn.org/about/ama-history/ama-history

4. About The Lancet. The Lancet. Accessed May 29, 2025. https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/about

5. Santoro C. NIH grants terminated amid Trump administration, raising concerns for US research, minority health disparities. AJMC^®. May 8, 2025. Accessed May 29, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/nih-grants-terminated-amid-trump-administration-raising-concerns-for-us-research-minority-health-disparities