What happened
On 2 November 2026 Margaret Harris, a science journalist at Physics World, warned colleagues on Bluesky that Science Official appeared to be copying articles from other publications and presenting them as its own.
She pointed to two of our stories. One, on laser-made muons, she set beside an article by Isabelle Dumé in Physics World. The other, on fast ferries in whale habitat, she set beside an investigation in The Guardian. She wrote that her legal department had been informed and invited other publications to check for their own work. Several science writers shared her post.
The next day IOP Publishing, which publishes Physics World, sent us a formal notice asking us to remove its material from this site.
What we have done
We have taken offline every story of ours that drew on Physics World. We rewrote the ferries story, and others that our own check found too close to their sources, and we are checking the rest of our archive in the same way.
Why we write about other people's findings
Science Official exists to carry research to readers who will never open a specialist journal. A discovery does not stop mattering because another outlet reported it first. Those facts should travel as far as they can, and we do not feel able to pass by important science in silence. But the facts belong to everyone, and the way a writer tells them belongs to that writer.
How we work
We build our own editorial technology. It follows far more sources than a small newsroom could read by hand, and stories are compared, analysed and written up under the rules of this publication, including with the help of artificial intelligence. Automated checks run on every text before publication, and editors review stories selectively, before and after publication.
Our rule on other people's work is simple: we retell in our own words, we do not reprint, and a story based on another outlet's reporting links to the original and names the outlet and, where we can find it, the writer. From today our stories are written from notes of the facts, without the original text in front of the writer.
Where we take the complaint to heart
Naming a publication is not the same as naming the person who did the work, and journalists and researchers are right to care about the difference. To Margaret Harris, and to any scientist or writer who believes we have infringed their rights, we apologise. We hold the work of Margaret Harris, Isabelle Dumé and their colleagues in high regard, and we have no wish to quarrel with anyone who works for science.
What changes from today
From today, every article on Science Official carries a block headed “Is this your work?”. No account and no fee are needed. You can use it to:
- Ask to be named. If you wrote the original, tell us how you would like to be credited.
- Ask for a correction or removal. If a story is wrong, too close to the original or used without your agreement, tell us what you would like us to do.
- Ask us to publish your research. If you have results the wider public should know about, send them to us.
You can also write to contact@scienceofficial.org, or use our contact page. We would be grateful if you came to us directly: your message reaches the newsroom, and we will answer it.
An open door for science
We are open to the scientific community, and we mean it practically. If you are a researcher or an institution and want your results to reach readers beyond your field, write to us. We charge nothing for this. Everything we have, our pages, our technology and our readers, is ready to promote your work. Researchers can also share their work directly in Science Official Papers.
People who care about science should stand together. That is the spirit in which we publish this answer, and our door stays open, with great respect, to Physics World, to The Guardian and to everyone who shares that care.
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