The high attendance at a physics meeting in Vienna last week — as well as the continued refereeing of Austrian research proposals by foreign scientists — suggests that fears of a boycott of Austria by the international scientific community may be unfounded.

But several hundred of those attending the seventh European Particle Accelerator Conference (EPAC) signed a letter to Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel saying that their participation “should not be misconstrued as an indication of support for the present Austrian government”.

Earlier this year, the US Department of Energy and the American Physical Society discussed a possible boycott in response to the inclusion in Austria's coalition government of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party.

Although the United States stepped back from an official boycott, some laboratories, such as the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and many scientists both inside and outside the United States pledged to boycott the meeting, leading to fears that it could face serious economic difficulties.

But many apparently changed their minds at the last minute, possibly in response to calls from Austria's science agencies for support from the international scientific community (see Nature 403, 691; 2000). The EPAC was attended by 750 physicists, including 103 from the United States. Although 10% fewer than initially expected, this was more than attended the 1998 EPAC in Stockholm.

The letter to the Austrian government was drafted by scientists in the United States and at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. Signatories included Andrew Sessler, former president of the American Physical Society, and Yuri Orlov, the honorary chairman of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

Representatives of the Austrian government were excluded from the meeting on the advice of Steve Myers of CERN, chairman of EPAC's international organizing committee.

“I personally think that at least the Austrian science minister, Elisabeth Gehrer, should have been invited to give a message of greeting,” says Meinhard Regler, vice-director of the Vienna-based Institute for High Energy Physics and chairman of the local organizing committee. “But I agree that the presence of an Austrian minister could have easily led to embarrassing situations.”

Arnold Schmidt, president of the Austrian Science Fund, Austria's main research-funding agency, says the political situation has not caused serious problems for Austrian scientists. Responses to only four out of 2,500 grant applications sent to referees outside Austria mentioned the Europe-wide restrictions of diplomatic relations with Austria, and there has been no significant reduction in the return rate of reviews, he says.