Caught in the crossfire

Researchers in sanctioned countries need help rejoining global academia, say Lousie Bezuidenhout and her colleagues

Research depends on movement. It is essential that researchers are able to travel to international conferences and collaborations. This aspect of their work is supported by physical and digital movements of equipment, hardware, data and software. These in turn result in a flow of information and knowledge in the form of publications, international journals and online databases.

These movements are becoming increasingly streamlined worldwide. Open science initiatives, for instance, are working to remove obstacles to the flow of digital resources such as online publications, datasets and software. However, it is all too easy to overlook how movement is hindered by external and unrelated sources, such as global foreign policy. One example is economic sanctions.