Spanish scientists working abroad.

IN XAVIER BOSCH’S INTERVIEW “SPAIN’S science minister sees future in telecom” (News Focus, 31 Jan., p. 653), Josep Piqué, Spanish Minister of Science and Technology, asserts that “[n]ow there are many more scientists from abroad working in Spain than there are Spanish scientists abroad.” This statement raises doubts among Spanish scientists both inside and outside of Spain, and thus we tried to verify it. We were unable to obtain either of the two global indicators from any official Spanish source (including the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Institute of Statistics). However, we have gathered the following data: 1) 1822 research scholars from Spain worked at U.S. universities during the 2001–02 academic year, 6.8% more than the previous year (1). Note that this number does not include Ph.D. students or researchers working at other profit and nonprofit research institutions across the United States. 2) In 2001, 154 postdocs from Spain moved to other European countries through the Marie Curie fellowships program, whereas only 39 European researchers moved to Spain (2). Data from other international funding programs yielded a similar negative balance for Spain (see supplementary table) (3). 3) Foreign researchers reportedly find it hard to get a position in Spain (4). The phenomenon of inbreeding at Spanish universities poses a barrier (5). In this regard, the launching of the Ramón y Cajal (RyC) program in 2001 is a positive initiative and virtually the only open door for foreign scientists (6, 7). However, foreign scientists obtained only 209 RyC positions out of 1300 available in 2001 and 2002 (8). During this period, 628 Spanish postdocs moved out of Spain, supported by the Education Ministry, only one of many national funding agencies (9). These findings contradict Piqué’s statement. We encourage Piqué to publish the data on which he relied for this assertion. His statement implies that the Spanish program to bring Spanish scientists back is satisfactory and that “brain drain” is not a crucial problem. We consider that present conditions are not adequate to reincorporate Spanish researchers or to attract foreign ones. We encourage Piqué and future science ministers to establish a longterm scientific policy aimed at attracting high-quality scientists, regardless of their country of origin. CRISTINA MUÑOZ-PINEDO,1* MIGUEL A. DEL POZO,2 JOSÉ A. GÁLVEZ,3 EVA M. MORENO,4 JAVIER BUCETA-FERNÁNDEZ,5,6 MARTA GARCIA-SANCHEZ,6 JOSE M. VALDIVIELSO,7 ELENA BASCONES,8 AND 2704 OTHER SCIENTISTS† 1La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 10355 Science Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. 2Departments of Immunology and Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. 3Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 4200 Engineering Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. 4Department of Cognitive Science, 5Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 6Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. 7Adaptive Therapeutics, 5820 Nancy Ridge, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. 8Theoretische Physik, ETHHoenggerberg, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. *To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: [email protected] †See www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/300/ 5616/51b/DC1 for additional signatories and their affiliations.