Sunday, July 3, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Agriculture

Study quantifying parachute science in coral reef research shows it’s ‘still widespread’

February 22, 2021
in Agriculture
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By analyzing 50 years’ worth of coral reef biodiversity studies, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 22 have quantified the practice of “parachute science,” which happens when international scientists, typically from higher-income countries, conduct field studies in another, typically lower-income country, without engaging with local researchers. They found that institutions from several lower-middle- and upper-middle-income countries with abundant coral reefs produced less research than institutions based in high-income countries with fewer or in some cases no reefs. They also found that host-nation scientists (scientists from the nations where field research was conducted) were not included in authorship on studies almost twice as often when those studies were conducted in lower-income countries.

“Unfortunately, for decades, it was the norm for researchers from high-income nations and wealthy institutions to engage in parachute science practices and build successful academic careers because of that. It’s only recently that people started discussing about unfair research practices in marine science,” says first author Paris Stefanoudis (@paris_st_v), a postdoctoral researcher in zoology at Oxford University. “There wasn’t any quantifiable evidence for it before now.”

Part of the difficulty in quantifying parachute science is that it can take on a variety of different forms depending on the researchers and the country in question.

“As a person of color from a large ocean state, I’ve definitely experienced parachute science,” says coauthor Sheena Talma (@sheena_talma), who is the Science Program Manager at Nekton Foundation in the UK and is from the Seychelles. “Some researchers apply for funding and only approach the local scientists once they’ve already got their grant. I’ve also seen researchers only take on partners in the host country just to make getting a permit easier.”

To identify trends in parachute science, the researchers analyzed publication metrics from the database Scopus for 50 years of warm-water coral reef biodiversity-related research. First, they looked at which countries were publishing these studies around the world and compared this to the amount of coral reef habitat in each of those countries.

“One thing that was notable was that of the top ten countries with the most reef publications, only two were not high-income nations–and two of them (Canada and Germany) don’t have any coral reefs at all,” says Stefanoudis. “That is a clear example of Western intellectual colonialism regarding an ecosystem that is predominantly affecting people’s lives in the tropics.”

Another sign of parachute science is when a coral reef study conducted in a certain country does not include any authors from that country. The researchers found that to be the case in 22% of studies conducted in Australia. But the effect was even more pronounced when the country where the fieldwork took place was lower income: studies in lower-income countries like Indonesia and the Philippines excluded local authors about 40% of the time. The researchers found a similar pattern when it came to research leadership (defined as publications where the first and/or senior author was from the host nation), with two-thirds of Australian studies led by Australian researchers, but only approximately 30% of Indonesian and 40% of Philippine studies led by local scientists.

“Parachute science is clearly still widespread in marine science, but it benefits nobody in the long run,” says Stefanoudis. “For researchers in host nations, it creates and perpetuates dependency on external expertise and hinders local research efforts. But for scientists conducting research overseas too, ineffective collaborations and unbalanced partnerships exclude them from a wealth of knowledge and practical skills that host nation scientists have. Thus, true and meaningful collaborations should be actively encouraged and not seen as a tick-boxing exercise.

While parachute science is difficult to combat due to its massive historical legacy often linked to colonialism, the researchers provide a list of suggestions for scientists conducting research in other countries, including liaising with local governments, co-designing a research agenda with host nation researchers and stakeholders, partnering with early-career researchers, and sharing data to promote knowledge exchange. However, they also hope that their work will lay a foundation for more detailed guidelines for academic, research, and funding institutions to eradicate parachute science practices in the future.

“Parachute science is complex, multilayered, and historical. The solution is not only about including more local scientists in publications, but about building relationships, developing knowledge-exchange activities, and having mutual trust and respect between all parties,” says Talma. “Local scientists have a lot to offer foreign researchers, and building those partnerships enables skill sharing and empowers people on the ground to continue the work once the foreign scientists leave.”

###

This study was the result of the collaboration between researchers based in the UK, Seychelles, Philippines, Australia, and Fiji. Funding was provided by the Nekton Foundation.

Current Biology, Stefanoudis et al.: “Turning the tide of parachute science” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00062-2

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact [email protected]

Media Contact
Miles Martin
[email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.029

Tags: BiologyInternational/ImmigrationMarine/Freshwater BiologyMedical/Scientific Ethics
Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • How to MRI your dragon

    How to MRI your dragon: Illinois researchers develop first bearded dragon brain atlas

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Immune molecules from a llama could provide protection against a vast array of SARS-like viruses including COVID-19, researchers say

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Researchers perform non-line-of-sight ghost imaging with human vision

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Unique blend of comics and humor is key to success of public awareness posters in Singapore, finds Singapore-US researchers

    72 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Human urine-derived stem cells have robust regenerative potential

    72 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Researchers develop word-score model capable of estimating hidden hearing loss

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

nTIDE May 2022 COVID Update: Uncertainty about inflation tempers good news for people with disabilities

COVID-19 fattens up our body’s cells to fuel its viral takeover

Famous Sterkfontein Caves deposit 1 million years older than previously thought

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 190 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....