229 new scholars elected to Russian Academy of Sciences, including some accused of publishing pseudoscience

229 individuals have been selected to join the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) following the body’s elections on November 15, Interfax reported.

71 of those scholars were chosen to become full RAN academics, while 158 were elected as corresponding members. They make for a total of 2,042 RAN members: 898 academics and 1,144 corresponding members.

RBC noted that the urologist Dmitry Pushkar was selected as a full academic, and Scientific Neurology Center Deputy Director Mariné Tanashyan became a corresponding member. The RAN commission on false scholarship had previously cited some of their publications for containing pseudoscientific claims. However, a mediation commission ultimately decided that “the citations […] would not interfere with [the scholars’] ability to take part in the upcoming elections.”

The 2016 RAN election also did not pass without controversy: it saw 25 high-ranking government officials join the scholarly body, after which Vladimir Putin pointed out that government bureaucrats are asked not to run for RAN seats. The newly elected scholars were fired from their government posts.