June 2025

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June 2025 | Oceanography

A lot has already been published about the how the current and

anticipated steep reductions in US federal funding for science,

along with reductions in staffing at federal agencies, will affect

the scientific enterprise, though not all the collateral damage has

been picked up in news stories nor assessed (e.g., Flannery, 2025;

Garisto, 2025; Harvey, 2025; Wadman, 2025). From my perch,

as editor of Oceanography, I’ve been thinking about what fed­

eral funding cuts might mean for scientific publishing, and for

this journal in particular. For decades, US federal agency sup­

port has been vital to the long-term health of Oceanography

and our ability to openly share critical research on a wide vari­

ety of ocean science related topics. Many special issues and indi­

vidual articles have been used as a basis for undergraduate and

graduate classroom instruction and discussions as well as to

inform policymakers.

Federal support has also enabled us to publish two special

issues on Women in Oceanography and more recently a special

issue on Building Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Ocean

Sciences. Three federal agencies supported this year’s special

issue on A Vision for Capacity Sharing in the Ocean Sciences.

These landmark special issues are contributing in various ways

to inspiring the careers of our next generation of ocean scientists,

who are vital to the continued health of our field. Importantly,

special issue sponsorship means that no authors pay publication

fees, allowing scientists from under-resourced nations or others

who may not have large research grants to fully participate. This

sponsorship also enabled The Oceanography Society (TOS), the

publisher of Oceanography and a nonprofit organization, to pro­

vide full open access to articles long before it was fashionable, or

even required, for scientific journals.

From the beginning, Oceanography’s mission has been to

communicate across disciplines in the ocean sciences—a dif­

ferent but complementary objective from other, more techni­

cal journals in our field. The aspiration is that special issues and

individual articles that are accessible to all ocean scientists, and

contributed by the global community, may spur new collabora­

tions or provide new insights that will advance the field. While

Oceanography will continue to pursue its mission by publish­

ing special issues as the situation permits, there will likely be

fewer in the future unless sponsorship opportunities with other

US-based organizations as well as groups outside of the United

States arise. Instead, we will publish more “regular” (unspon­

sored) issues that are based on unsolicited manuscripts (e.g., this

June 2025 issue; see also the September 2024 issue).

I highly encourage TOS members to check out our Author

Guidelines for instructions on how to submit a manuscript

to Oceanography and to share those guidelines with your col­

leagues. If you are unsure whether a topic might be of interest to

us, please contact one of the associate editors and discuss your

idea. Your articles, whether published in a regular or special

issue, are vital to communication among ocean scientists and

the continued health of Oceanography.

WHAT DO CUTS TO US SCIENCE

MEAN FOR OCEANOGRAPHY?

Ellen S. Kappel, Editor

REFERENCES

Flannery, M.E. 2025. “Scientific Research is Getting Cut—And That Should Scare All Americans.” neaToday, March 5, 2025, https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/

scientific-research-getting-cut-and-should-scare-all-americans.

Garisto, D. 2025. “Trump Moves To Slash NSF: Why Are the Proposed Budget Cuts So Big?” Nature, June 5, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01749-x.

Harvey, C., 2025. “Trump Takes a Giant ‘Wrecking Ball’ to US Research.” E&E News, February 18, 2025, https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-​takes-​giant-​wrecking-​

ball-​to-​us-​research/.

Wadman, M. 2025. “National Academies, Staggering From Trump Cuts, on Brink of Dramatic Downsizing.” Science, June 2, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z4wjf7q.

ARTICLE DOI. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025.313

QUARTERDECK

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