The petition reads, in part: “We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborations — despite big talk about diversity, equity and inclusion — have ultimately failed black people.”

Many leading scientific journals, including Science, Physical Review Letters and arXiv, an online platform where physicists post their pre-prints, have all said that they will be silent on Wednesday.

In a notice sent to reporters on Tuesday, the prominent journal Nature, which publishes new research papers every Wednesday, said that it would hold off on doing so until Thursday, with the exception of breaking news about the coronavirus.

“Naturecondemns police prejudice and violence, we stand against all forms of racism, and we join others around the world in saying, unequivocally, Black Lives Matter,” their statement read.

“We recognize that Natureis one of the white institutions that is responsible for bias in research and scholarship.