‘We asked them to honor our embargo, but they chose not to, which, given the circumstances, was certainly their right.’

Sometimes what looks like an embargo break is not an embargo break at all. Embargo Watch readers may recall the story of Pat Anstett, who in 2002 was blacklisted by the Journal of the American Medical Association for publishing a story — based on independent reporting, rather than embargoed materials — on a major study that was about to come...

May 2021

Guardian breaks embargo on mantis shrimp study

The Guardian broke the embargo early this morning on a study about mantis shrimp larvae, prompting the journal to lift the embargo early. Kathryn Knight, the journal press officer working on the story, told Embargo Watch that the Guardian broke the embargo on the Journal of Experimental Biology study, which was scheduled to lift at 2300 BST tonight:...

Apr 2021

After a typhoon delays publication of a paper, PLOS ONE tries to re-embargo the work, then reverses itself

House et al (2020) PLOS ONE, CC BY On Wednesday, November 25, a bit after 2 p.m. US East Coast time, when the embargo on a PLOS ONE paper had already lifted, the journal’s press office sent this message to reporters: IMPORTANT EMBARGO UPDATE: The article described in release “Keyhole wasps may threaten aviation safety”...

Nov 2020

Science lifts embargo on dog breeding study early after break

via pxhere From the Science Press Package at 12:45 p.m. Eastern today: Effectively immediately, Science is lifting the embargo on the Report listed below because of an embargo violation. “Arctic-adapted dogs emerged at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition,” by M.-H.S. Sinding et al. The Science Press Package Team and EurekAlert! take such violations...

Jun 2020

Remember, folks: It’s weird embargo time season

photo by Robbert van der Steeg via flickr It’s like clockwork. I wrote about “weird embargo time season” a decade ago, and here I am writing about it again. Twice per year — once in March and once in November — parts of the world set their clocks either forward or backward on a different day than other parts of the world. That means that for a total...

Mar 2020

Max Planck Institute press release breaks embargo on PNAS paper

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) lifted the embargo early on Friday on a paper because the corresponding author’s institute posted a press release days before the embargo was scheduled to lift. According to an announcement from PNAS, in the paper, “Two systems for thinking about others’ thoughts in the developing brain,” “Charlotte...

Mar 2020

UK Press Association breaks embargo on tiny study of potential endometriosis drug

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has lifted the embargo early on a study of a potential drug for endometriosis, after the UK Press Association ran the story early. PNAS tells Embargo Watch: A wire story from the UK Press Association was published ahead of the scheduled embargo. We are investigating the circumstances. A press...

Dec 2019

Reuters banned from cardiology meeting after embargo break

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has revoked press access for Reuters reporters to its next annual meeting, following an embargo break that the wire service said was inadvertent. Last week, Embargo Watch reported that Reuters broke the embargo on two studies being presented at the ACC meeting last month in New Orleans but would not face sanctions...

Apr 2019

Reuters won’t face NEJM sanctions for cardiology meeting embargo break

  Reuters, which broke the embargo on two studies being presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting two weekends ago in New Orleans, will not face sanctions from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), which had published the papers. Apparently, Reuters contacted NEJM about the break when it happened. According to a note from...

Mar 2019

The math prize embargo that didn’t add up

The Fields Medal What a mess. Last Wednesday, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio, the International Mathematical Union announced the winners of the Fields Medal, which many consider the Nobel Prize of math. The announcements had been embargoed until 11:30 a.m. Rio time, which is 10:30 U.S. East Coast time. But as David Castelvecchi,...

Aug 2018