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
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