List of open letters by academics

This article lists notable open letters that were initiated by scientists or other academics or have a substantial share of academic signees.

Open letters that are not open for signing by other academics or the public in general and have not received both a large number of signatures – in specific no less than 10 before 2000 and no less than 40 after 2010 – and substantial media attention are not included, nor are petitions. With the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web, such open letters may have become far more frequent.

Open letters targeting or defending individual academics or small groups of scholars as well as letters calling for retractions of specific studies are not included.

NameYearSignaturesScope / topicDemandsOrganized byDemand achievedCriticized2023GlobalAll editors at NeuroImage and NeuroImage: Reports resigned because they oppose the large fee ($3450) that the journal owner, publishing giant Elsevier, charges authors to make their scientific papers open access (OA). As Elsevier refused to reduce the fee, they launch a new OA journal Imaging Neuroscience hosted by the non-profit publisher MIT Press. They commit to make the new journal replace their abandoned one as "the top journal in [their] field" and hope they demonstrate "the way forward in non-profit publishing".(Group action of full editors-team)Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter2023Global"AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" due to "profound risks to society and humanity".Future of Life Institute2023European Union / Changes to the proposed Cyber Resilience Act due to "unnecessary economic and technological risk to the EU" and improving engagement with the under-represented open source software community as "more than 70% of the software in Europe [open source/FOSS] is about to be regulated without an in-depth consultation" and potential chilling effects of OSS development.The Eclipse Foundation2023GlobalAcceleration of research on "atmospheric aerosols and their potential to increase the reflection of sunlight from the atmosphere to address climate risk".2022Global"[I]mmediate political action from governments, the United Nations, and other actors to prevent the normalization of solar geoengineering as a climate policy option".16 scholars2022GlobalUniversities should stop accepting funding from fossil fuel companies to conduct climate research.Fossil Free Research2022Russia, UkraineIndependence of the Ukrainian people and freedom of the Ukrainian state (in face of the 2022 Russian invasion of the country).Roald Hoffmann, Richard J. Roberts2022Russia, UkraineCondemnation of the war against Ukraine with "responsibility for unleashing a new war in Europe [lying] entirely with Russia".NA2022Global"Insofar as it involves unnecessary violence and harm, [they] declare that animal exploitation is unjust and morally indefensible".Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security2022GlobalFour steps towards a nuclear-weapon-free world to take by the Tenth Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2022.NoFirstUse Global2022MaltaPassage of abortion law changes Bill No. 28 of 2022 as is.2021USA / Global"President Joe Biden and his administration to commit to reducing U.S. heat-trapping emissions by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030".Union of Concerned Scientists2021USA / GlobalRemoval of logging and fossil fuel provisions from reconciliation and infrastructure bills by President Biden and members of Congress.2021USA / GlobalPresident Biden to "use his forthcoming declaration of a new national strategy for managing nuclear weapons as a chance to cut the U.S. arsenal by a third, and to declare, for the first time, that the United States would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict".2021USA / Global "Completely stop federally authorized fossil fuel expansion Declare a climate emergency Abandon industry delay tactics"Biologist Dr. Sandra Steingraber, climate scientist Dr. Peter Kalmus, advocacy groups Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch2021GlobalEnd of the criminalization of non-violent civil disobedience from direct action climate activist groups.Oscar Berglund, others2021GlobalA "temporary TRIPS waiver – as proposed by India and South Africa and supported by more than 100 countries – [as a] necessary and proportionate legal measure towards the clearing of existing intellectual property barriers to scaling up of production of COVID-19 health technologies in a direct, consistent and effective fashion".2021GlobalWTO to eliminate increasing harmful fisheries subsidies.2020GlobalWHO, medical community and relevant national and other international bodies to "recognize the potential for airborne spread" of COVID-19 by around the time of the letter.Lidia Morawska, Donald K Milton2020PhilippineEnd to President Rodrigo Duterte's "bloody war on drugs" and the creation of a Truth Commission.2020GlobalCondemnation of cancel culture and liberal intolerance and defending free speech, making an argument that hostility to free speech was becoming widespread on what could be described as "the political left" as well.Thomas Chatterton Williams, Robert Worth, George Packer, David Greenberg, Mark LillaNA2020GlobalEngagement with the risk of disruption and even collapse of societies due to climate change by policymakers.Gesa Weyhenmeyer, Will Steffen2019GlobalDeclaration of support for Extinction Rebellion and sufficient change of Australian government's inaction on the climate crisis. It is based on .2019GlobalDeclaration of support for School Strikes for Climate.2018Global"Plan[ning]" for a post-growth future in which human and ecological wellbeing is prioritised over GDP by the European Union and its member states.Wellbeing Economy Alliance and others2016USA / GlobalSix steps of immediate and sustained action to take by Donald Trump against human-caused climate change.2016USA / GlobalSufficient funding of scientific research as well as "support[ing] and rely[ing] on science as a key input for crafting public policy" by the incoming administration.Union of Concerned Scientists2015Global – GoogleMore transparency of Google's right to be forgotten (RTBF) processes.2015Global[...]Future of Life InstituteNA2011USA, Canada / GlobalStoppage of SOPA and PIPA Internet blacklist bills.Electronic Frontier Foundation2007Russia1990RussiaPreventing privatisation of land itself, instead of a Georgist system of common ownership and the collection of public revenue through land-value taxation.

See also Collective action Collective intelligence Scientific consensus Scientific controversy Policy in the environment#Open policy proposals Timeline of computing –present#Open policy proposals

In the media and public awareness

Science communication Science journalism Solutions journalism Similar documents Letter of three hundred, only made public retrospectively World Scientists' Warning to Humanity

References