Top academic accuses the British Medical Journal of ‘abandoning science’ after rejecting research ‘because of their views on the trans debate’

The British Medical Journal has been accused of ‘abandoning science’ after rejecting research from top academics over their views on the trans debate.

One researcher had his article rejected because he was “quirky” and had tweeted in support of author JK Rowling’s gender-critical views.

The other’s research was taken offline by BMJ staff who accused him of being ‘transphobic’ based on a student article about him. Both academics saw the discussions in emails from BMJ staff after making freedom of information requests.

Dr. Michael Biggs, a sociologist from the University of Oxford, was blacklisted for an article that said the official number of transgender people in Britain – 262,000 – is unreliable due to a confusingly worded census question.

Dr. John Armstrong (pictured), a mathematician at King’s College London, has submitted a paper to BMJ Open on findings that institutions with higher ‘Athena Swan’ ratings – an award given for promoting gender equality – have fewer women in senior positions to have

He said a number of non-native English speakers have answered “no” to the question: “Is the gender you identify with the same as the gender registered at birth?”

Emails from BMJ employees claimed that Dr. Biggs “portrays transgender people as uneducated and implies that they could not understand the census question.”

The emails also reveal that he is “known to be transphobic” after a 2018 student paper claimed he had tweeted critical views of transgender people.

Dr. Biggs said that “some magazine editors…don’t care whether an article is true, but whether it helps disadvantaged or oppressed minorities.”

Dr. John Armstrong, a mathematician at King’s College London, has submitted a paper to BMJ Open on findings that institutions with higher ‘Athena Swan’ ratings – an award given for promoting gender equality – have fewer women in senior positions.

After it was rejected, he discovered that an employee had told a colleague that his social media account had “colored our impression of the manuscript.”

One email said ‘he is quite argumentative and opinionated’, and highlighted how he retweeted a message from JK Rowling in support of campaigner Maya Forstater, who lost her job after saying people could not change their biological sex.

Dr. Armstrong said, “If a journal censors findings because they don’t like the results or the author, it has abandoned science.”

The BMJ denied it would reject an article for ‘political or ideological reasons’.