The Nobel prize for literature will not be awarded in 2019 unless trust is restored in the scandal-plagued Swedish Academy, the Nobel Foundation’s executive director has revealed. His admission came just weeks after the 2018 prize was called off in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, financial malpractice and repeated leaks.

On 4 May, the Swedish Academy – which decides on the winner of the world’s top literary award – announced that it would not be handing out a Nobel prize for literature in 2018, after a series of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse were made against the husband of academy member Katarina Frostenson. The way the academy handled the allegations, which have been denied by Frostenson’s husband, the photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, led to several resignations, leaving it with just 10 active members – with 12 required to elect new ones. In order to “commit time to recovering public confidence”, the academy said that it would instead create two laureates in 2019.

While the Nobel Foundation – which is responsible for the fulfilment of Alfred Nobel’s will – has supported this decision, the executive director of the foundation, Lars Heikensten, has cast some doubt over the academy’s ability to have its house in order soon enough. On the prize’s website, he said: “The Swedish Academy’s goal is to make its decision on the 2018 Nobel prize in literature and to announce it together with the 2019 prize. We hope that this will be the case, but it depends on the Swedish Academy restoring its trust.”

Heikensten was clear that the academy needed to cultivate a more open approach in order to do this. The way the jury decides on the winner has long been a closely guarded secret, with archives only opened 50 years after a decision is made.

“The Swedish Academy must be able to report what concrete measures are being taken and should get outside help in order to solve their problems,” said Heikensten. “Among other things, they need to reassess compliance with their confidentiality and conflict-of-interest rules.

“The academy has cultivated a closed culture over a long period of time. This was likely to be challenged at one time or another … I believe that in the end something good will come out of this situation, even if that of course has not been the feeling during recent weeks.”