In early June 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered scientists not to publish research findings in journals without administration approval.
@jaemamajams Trump Admin Trying to Censor & Control the Scientific Community #news #wow #2025 #usa #science #research #control #veteran #health #military #army #navy #airforce #marines #fyp #fypシ #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #fypp #fyppp #fypppp #fyppppp #fypシ゚viral #fypviral #fyp_ #viral #viralvideo #viraltiktok #virall #viralll #viralllllll #viralvideos #viral_video_tiktok #viralfyp #viralforyou #foryou #foryoupage #foryourpage #foryoupageofficiall #foryoupage❤️❤️ #foryouu #foryouuu #foryouviral #foryoufyp ♬ original sound - Shannon
One TikTok user said: "Is the Trump administration now trying to control what doctors and scientists publish with regard to their own research? Yes, yes they are. In fact, they just ordered scientists to get their approval before they publish what their findings are in their own research."
The claim also appeared on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), X (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived), often alongside a report (archived) in The Guardian newspaper titled: "US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance." Snopes readers also emailed to ask whether the claim was true.
At the time of this writing, Snopes found no evidence of credible reports of a governmentwide order specifically asking scientists to submit research publications for administration preapproval, as claims online said (archived, archived, archived, archived).
However, Trump did sign an executive order on May 23 titled "Restoring Gold Standard Science." This order asked federal departments and agencies to review their scientific integrity policies to match principles laid out by the Trump administration. The order further placed with political appointees at all agencies the power to "correct scientific information in response to violations" of Trump's order and "forward potential violations to the relevant human resources officials for discipline."
Though the order did not mandate preapproval of research findings, its critics feared it could muzzle the scientific community through political appointees with powers to "correct" and "discipline" federal researchers.
The critics said it mandated "a centralized system serving the political beliefs of the President and the whims of those in power" and granted "administration-aligned political appointees the power to designate any research as scientific misconduct."
We reached out to the White House press office and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to ask if there had been a governmentwide order for scientists to submit research results for approval and await a reply.
Scientific integrity and political manipulation
It was uncertain at the time of this writing how Trump's order would affect scientific integrity directives at federal departments and agencies. These policies govern how departments and agencies conduct and communicate about their research. The order asked agency heads to consult with the OSTP to update their scientific integrity directives in line with Trump's "Gold Standard Science" requirements.
Scientific integrity directives were an Obama-era policy. In 2009, then-President Barack Obama asked executive departments and agencies to ensure that they had "appropriate rules and procedures" to ensure scientific integrity.
According to a follow-up memo by John Holdren, then the OSTP director, this included developing policy to ensure that political appointees and public-affairs officers could not "suppress or alter scientific or technological findings" or "ask or direct Federal scientists to alter scientific findings."
At the time of this writing, we found that departments including Veteran's Affairs, Health and Human Services, Energy and Homeland Security had equivalent clauses in their scientific integrity directives.
Claims stem from reporting on critical opinion piece by VA scientists
The claims likely stemmed from reporting in the British newspaper The Guardian, titled "US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance." The reporting centered on emails allegedly sent to staff at the Department of Veteran's Affairs on May 30, 2025, that The Guardian said represented a move that sought "political control of doctors' and scientists' published research."
According to The Guardian, VA Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Curt Cashour and John Bartrum, a senior adviser at the VA, sent emails on this date relating to a commentary piece by Pavan Ganapathiraju and Rebecca Traylor, two VA employees, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The piece argued that Department of Government Efficiency-induced staffing cuts were making it difficult for the VA to fulfill its commitment to treating veterans in accordance with the PACT Act. Cashour reportedly said Ganapathiraju and Traylor's publication broke department guidelines.
Snopes has not independently verified the emails The Guardian reported. We submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the VA for the emails from The Guardian's report in order to determine exactly what Cashour and Bartrum told VA employees about securing approval before publication, and await a reply.
According to VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz, Ganapathiraju and Traylor broke VA policy laid out in Directive 8500 on Public Affairs that required employees to inform the VA's Office of Public Affairs of requests for comment on "controversial issues."
Directive 8500 said local and regional directors must inform communications officers "as soon as possible, when national news media requests are received, or situations concerning their organizations exist that have the potential for negative national exposure."
Kasperowicz said: "This policy, which has been in place for several years across both Democrat and Republican administrations, simply requires VA employees to properly coordinate with public affairs staff prior to speaking with the media. Virtually every organization both inside and outside government has similar policies."
He added: "To pretend that enforcing this policy is a 'war on science' is absurd, and we doubt even the far left and extraordinarily biased Guardian believes this ridiculous assertion."
The VA last updated Directive 8500 on Public Affairs in October 2019, during the first Trump administration.