The Oxford University Press (OUP) will stop publishing a Chinese government-sponsored academic journal following years of outrage over the publication allegedly breaching ethical rules over DNA collection from minorities.
A statement on the website of the Forensic Sciences Research (FSR) read that the journal will no longer be published by OUP after this year. The last issue of the quarterly journal to be published will be Volume 10, Issue 4, it said.
The Chinese justice ministry-sponsored journal has come under increasing scrutiny for publishing studies that allegedly did not meet ethical standards about DNA collection from Uyghur and other ethnic minority groups in China's northwestern territory of Xinjiang. Critics of the studies published in the journal have argued that the subjects may not have consented for their DNA to be used in the research.
The controversial journal has been published since 2023 and financially supported by the Academy of Forensic Science, which is run by China's ministry of justice. The academy describes the journal as “the only English quarterly journal in the field of forensic science in China that focuses on forensic medicine”, according to The Guardian.
The OUP has retracted at least two papers published in the journal on DNA samples from Chinese minorities due to ethical concerns.
A study published before OUP acquired the journal analysed DNA samples collected from 264 Uyghur individuals. The paper claims that participants consented for the research – a claim refuted by critics. OUP reportedly published an “expression of concern” about the article in 2024, but did not retract the paper.
Another study of particular concern was published in 2023 involved 50 “bloodstain” samples taken from Xibe ethnic minority individuals, according to Oxford's student-run newspaper Cherwell.
The papers were first flagged by Yves Moreau, an engineering professor at KU Leuven in Belgium, who spent years investigating how Chinese researchers collect genetic data from vulnerable populations.
“Starting next year, Forensic Sciences Research will be published by KeAi, Elsevier’s distinguished co-publishing partner in China. This transition is rooted in thoughtful reflection and pragmatic necessity, driven in part by a shared ambition to grow, evolve, and further enhance the journal’s global impact,” FSR said.
Beijing has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups over the past decade through widespread abuses, including mass incarceration, forced labour, torture, sexual assault and intensified surveillance.
The Xi Jinping administration has routinely denied the allegations, calling them “the lie of the century”.
The UN says China has detained more than a million minority Muslims, mostly Uyghurs, since a dramatic escalation in counterterrorism measures in 2017. Beijing initially denied the existence of any Uyghur detention centres before defending them as “re-education centres”.
The UK, US and Australia were among 15 countries that issued a joint statement at the UN against alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet.
The Independent has reached out to FSR and OUP for comment.
