This communication paper reflects on discussions from a workshop about Indigenous involvement in the peer review and editorial processes. Arctic-based research is undergoing a paradigm shift to include local Indigenous peoples, their priorities, and knowledge throughout the research process. This special issue is an excellent example; it highlights research involving partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers to support knowledge co-production. Despite this shift, we find little space within the standard peer review and editorial processes for Indigenous peoples, their perspectives and knowledge. To discuss this issue, we organized a half day workshop at the 2019 ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting with a diversity of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants who are involved in Arctic research. The discussions reveal that answering questions about the involvement of Indigenous peoples in the peer review and editorial processes largely begins by addressing the challenges of achieving equity in the research process generally. Our discussions demonstrated that further conversations are needed and that no single approach will work in all cases, but that there are several concrete actions that researchers, universities, funding organizations and publishers can take to begin addressing this issue.
Academic research plays a key role in developing understanding of sustainability issues in the Canadian Arctic, yet northern organizations and governments struggle to find research that is relevant, respectful of local interests, and that builds local capacity. Northern science and research policies communicate expectations for how research should be prioritized, planned, conducted, and disseminated. They discuss northern leadership of research and outline the diverse roles that northerners and northern organizations could fill in research programs and projects. Many of these documents are founded on the need for research to improve environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the Canadian North and provide insight into how academia can support a northern-led Arctic sustainability research agenda. The goal of this study is to examine northern research-policy documents to identify commonalities amongst the goals and priorities of northern organizations and their shared expectations for research in northern Canada. The objectives are to understand how organizations expect researchers to engage in and conduct research, how research programs can align with northern science policy objectives, and how academic research can support policy and decision-making related to sustainability. Through a quantitative content analysis combined with a qualitative thematic analysis, this comprehensive review examines research policy, strategy, guidance, and program documents produced by northern and northern-focused governments and Indigenous organizations. Relationships, partnership, and communication are the foundations of relevant and applicable research, requiring both resources and time for local and partner participation. Our analysis shows that researchers should consider potential policy applications for sustainability research early on in the development of research projects, ensuring that relevant local and policy partners are involved in designing the project and communicating results.
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