Diabetes Care editors boycott the ADA after police ouster

Five researchers handed out copies of a journal editorial in June. It criticized federal cuts to research funding. Security escorted them out of the American Diabetes Association's conference. One was Steven Kahn, editor of the group's own journal, Diabetes Care. Now Kahn and other editors are boycotting the ADA. They're refusing to review new manuscripts until the dispute ends.

Kahn's boycott letter has already collected hundreds of signatures. Signers include former ADA presidents and past award winners. That's the kind of insider who rarely turns on their own society in public. The ADA has since apologized. But an internal review this month denies the group censored anyone or called in police to punish critics. That directly contradicts video and eyewitness accounts from the conference. The real dispute isn't about diabetes research. It's about whether a scientific society can silence its own members over funding cuts.

Keep reading — what to watch

Will the ADA back down, or will manuscripts pile up unreviewed? Diabetes Care depends on volunteer editors like Kahn to keep publishing on schedule. If the boycott holds, new diabetes research could face real delays getting into print. Other medical societies are watching too, since federal research cuts are hitting labs well beyond diabetes.