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Publishers with operations in China are curtailing some activities in the country after the coronavirus outbreak.
A spokesperson for Springer Nature said: "We have taken precautions including stopping all business travel to and from China until further notice and supporting colleagues in China who are restricted from travelling or returning to work following the Chinese New Year holiday. We’ve postponed certain planned Nature Conferences in affected regions until the situation is better understood. A global response team, working closely with colleagues in China, has been convened and will keep the situation and business response under review."
Meanwhile Pearson said: "The safety of our employees and customers is paramount to us. Like other international companies with operations in China, we are taking precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus and reduce the potential for cross-infection. We are providing free online learning resources to our customers in China and Hong Kong for the duration of the school suspension period, and employees are advised to work from home as per government guidance. Our exam delivery operations are also temporarily suspended to ensure the health and safety of all our customers. We will continue to actively monitor the situation."
Taylor & Francis said its first priority was the safety of its colleagues. "With indications that the coronavirus has an incubation period of up to 14 days, colleagues in our China office have been advised to work from home until 17th February," a spokesperson said.
"Guidance has been given for any colleagues experiencing symptoms; those in close contact with those who have; or colleagues who have visited the Hubei Province. Additionally, in-line with governmental guidelines, colleagues in China have been asked to avoid all unnecessary travel, whilst any colleague travel to China is to be avoided until further notice. We will continue to monitor the situation and update this guidance as needed.
"We are also a signatory to the Wellcome Trust’s joint statement on sharing research data and findings relevant to the outbreak openly and rapidly, supporting researchers, journals and funders to ensure this can inform the public health response. All coronavirus-related research on our platform is free-to-access in support of this, with a reading list available on our newsroom."
Springer Nature, Elsevier and OUP have also made coronavirus-related research free.
In the latest development last night (4th February) the Foreign Office changed its advice to Britons in China, and is now recommending that all British nationals leave the country if they can.