Vera Gallistl

Orwellian: Routledge refuses to publish my open access book "From the Maidan to the Russia-Ukraine War" which is under contract. They express “concern” with my analysis of the West blocking the peace deal, @elonmusk involvement in promoting my GoFundMe gofundme.com/f/openaccess-b… open access book crowdfunding, my analysis of Ukrainian and US involvement in the Nord Stream bombing, and my analysis of all other conflicts and issues. They state that I have to include "alternative" sources and perspectives. This unprecedented refusal to publish my book is made by Routledge even though two anonymous reviewers provided extremely favorable reviews and recommended my book publication by Routledge without any substantive changes. And four leading American, British, and Ukrainian experts wrote very favorable endorsements of the book. Several of my book chapters are also based on my updated and expanded peer-reviewed publications. My book was supposed to be published by Routledge, a major British academic press, under the terms of the signed contract simultaneously as an open access electronic book, paperback, and hardcover the last summer since I submitted my final manuscript in February 2024: routledge.com/our-customers/… I already paid Routledge the standard open access fee, which, in addition to a University of Ottawa grant, was crowdfunded via GoFundMe & PayPal with over 200 contributions, including by world-renowned American podcasters and journalists, in spite of Ukrainian far-right-linked attempt to block it: gofundme.com/f/openaccess-b… But Routledge states that my book cannot be published unless I would revise the entire manuscript, including chapters based on my peer-reviewed publications, and would use other perspectives and alternative sources concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, the peace deal, the Nord Stream bombing, and all other issues and conflicts that I examine in my book, including the EuroMaidan, the Maidan massacre, the war in Donbas, and the far-right. They specifically state that "significant differences of opinion need to be reflected" on the Nord Stream bombing. This essentially means the conspiracy theory of Russian false flag bombing of its own pipeline. In my two major revisions of the manuscript, I addressed all the comments and suggestions, examined all major narratives and sources, and added hundreds of additional sources which corroborate my analysis. In addition to a Zelensky adviser and a former German chancellor, I cited similar statements by an ex-Israeli prime-minister, the head of Ukrainian delegation, Ukrainian officials close to Zelensky, a Turkish foreign minister, and other corroborating sources concerning the blocking of the peace deal by the US and the UK. I also added statements and suggestions by Victoria Nuland, two members of the Ukrainian delegation and the Turkish president that the US and the UK blocked peace deal which was closed to being finalized. I also added discussions of results of the official German investigation of the Nord Stream bombing and investigations by leading German, US, and Danish media. I am a Ukrainian and Canadian scholar and the most cited political scientist, who specializes primarily in conflicts in Ukraine. My academic publications include 5 books, 21 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and 13 chapters. My new open access book concerning Maidan massacre was just published by a major British academic press: link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9… I have another forthcoming book concerning Ukraine since independence from another major Western academic press. But many books by overnight experts in the conflicts in Ukraine were already published by Routledge and other Western academic and trade presses. My book is based on the analysis of tens of thousands of primary and secondary sources, overwhelmingly Ukrainian and Western. I cite about 1,500 of them in my book manuscript and its video appendixes. I posted many of such sources concerning the Russia-Ukraine on @X and they reached over 100,000,000 views. I am now given a choice by Routledge to delay significantly my book publication and to do a full revision of my book using "alternative sources" or to cancel my book contract. But I cannot commit academic fraud and base my book on politically convenient narratives and sources propagated by any government and media. My study does not accept at face value any claims by any governments, the media, the social media, or any other sources, unless they are corroborated by independent and reliable sources or if they go against vested interest. I can cancel the contract and publish the open access book with another academic press. But the peer-review and publishing process would take close to 1 year and would significantly delay the publication of my book on the crucial ongoing war in Ukraine. I have never received before such decisions by the publishers concerning my 5 other books and 13 chapters, including chapters in 3 Routledge books. I do not know any such refusals to publish books by Routledge and other such academic presses. This highly irregular and unprecedented decision by Routledge looks like political censorship and is extremely dangerous development.