Concerns raised over integrity of health information published in the US
Does your organisation use PubMed or other American health information sources?
The US administration is modifying or removing pages on particular themes. This is affecting the quality of content coming from sources including PubMed and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The topics of concern range from women’s health and sexual health to AIDs, vaccines, and diversity and inclusion.
In this blog, Caroline De Brún, Public Health Librarian and a member of the PIF TICK Steering Group, examines the risks.
'Content being removed according to values'
The current U.S. government’s recent actions towards research, such as restricting language in funding applications, limiting international collaboration, removing public data, and adjusting government funded publications, is potentially putting the integrity of U.S. health information at risk. Some content on U.S. government websites is being modified or removed according to the values of the current administration.
It is very difficult to monitor the changes because the President issues Executive Orders, which affect government departments and the information they produce, but then judges overturn the Executive Orders and, in some cases, reinstate services/information.
Examining the changes to health information
PubMed is a popular biomedical research database, hosted by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. It has been reported that U.S. federal agencies have recently limited or discouraged use of words related to women's health, transgender, gender ideology, sexual health, vaccines, climate change, ethnic minority health, and equity, diversity and inclusion, in NIH research grants.
The authors of a study published in the BMJ analysed abstracts of grants awarded by the NIH, and found that “words reflecting diversity language appeared less frequently in 2025 compared with abstracts of grants awarded in 2024”.
You can read the article on the BMJ website here.
At the moment, PubMed does not seem to be giving cause for concern, but it is at risk as the current government continues to make changes to the Department of Health and Human Services, under which NIH, NLM, and PubMed sit.
How we can track these changes
Pubservatory provides weekly insights into the changes made to PubMed. The platform visualizes both additions and deletions, giving researchers, librarians, and information professionals a clear view of how PubMed is changing over time. Visit the Pubservatory website here.
The Data Rescue Project is a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts and data access points for public US governmental data that are currently at risk. Efforts include: data gathering, data curation and cleaning, data cataloguing, and providing sustained access and distribution of data assets. See the full Data Rescue Project.
There is a website called the Government Information Tracker produced by the University of Minnesota, and they have produced a spreadsheet tracking removed, modified, and impacted federal government information and resources. Having examined the website, the following are key public health information pages that have been modified or removed, and/or have had programs/grants terminated: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce, Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. Global Change Research Program.
View the Government Information Tracker here.
See the full spreadsheet via Google Docs.
Free session will discuss ways to #DefendResearch
The UKSG, an international association to connect the information community and encourage the exchange of ideas on scholarly communication, is hosting a free webinar. 'Why We All Need to #DefendResearch' will take place on Tuesday 5 May at 3pm.
The session will hear from speakers including:
- Alice Meadows, Consultant at ORE Consulting
- Louis Coiffait-Gunn, CEO at CILIP the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
- Terri Teleen, President - Americas at Emerald Publishing
- Lisa Schiff, Co-author at Declaration to Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship