Out of Africa: The underrepresentation of African authors in high-impact geoscience literature

North, Michelle A.; Hastie, Warwick W.; Hoyer, L.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103262

Cited by 87 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Although, Nordling (2018) later notes the meaning of decolonization in the Natural Sciences is not well defined, and its relevance is even contested. Nevertheless, some South African researchers bemoan the lack of credit for publishing in local African journals (North et al, 2020). This is even more true in other African countries (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo) (Sooryamoorthy, 2018).…”

Section: Global Inequalitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences

Pourret¹,

Hedding²,

Ibarra³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background. Open Access (OA) describes the free, unrestricted access to and re-use of research articles. Recently, a new wave of interest, debate, and practice surrounding OA publishing has emerged.Objectives. The paper presented here focuses on international disparities in OA publication practices of the Earth Science community. We aim to provide an overview of actual publication practices and comparison between several countries with the intention of stimulating further debate and raising awareness to aid the decision-making processes for the further development of OA practices in the Earth Sciences.Methods. Number of OA articles, proportion of OA articles by countries and journals’ selection was performed using the Scopus and Web of Science indexing databases.Results. In 2018, only between 24 and 31% of total articles were available as OA. The ten top journals for Earth Sciences that publish OA articles are mostly fully OA (6) or hybrid journals (4). Fully OA journals are mostly published by emerging publishers and have a large range of Article Processing Charges (APCs) from less than $US 1000 up to $US 3000.Conclusions. The rise in OA publishing has potential impacts for the profiles of researchers and tends to devolve publication costs from organizations to individuals. Until the Earth Sciences community makes the decision to move away from journal-based evaluation criteria, it is likely that such high costs will continue to impose financial inequities upon this research community, especially for researchers from least developed countries. However, Earth Scientists could more widely choose legal self-archiving as an equitable and sustainable way to disseminate their research.

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Section: Global Inequalitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences

Pourret¹,

Hedding²,

Ibarra³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lastly, fieldwork can become more inclusive by avoiding practices like “parachute science,” in which Western scientists gather data in other countries and then leave without collaborating with or investing in those communities. Researchers should meaningfully involve Indigenous and other local communities and collaborators to incorporate non‐Western knowledge systems and avoid exacerbating inequalities (e.g., Maldonado et al., 2016; North et al., 2020).…”

Section: The Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Counteracting Systemic Bias in the Lab, Field, and Classroom

et al. 2021

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Events in 2020, including the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, ignited a global conversation across all sectors of society about racism, white supremacy, and other systems of oppression experienced by marginalized groups. The geoscience community has responded with statements, reading groups, and committees addressing the overall lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our field. The sad truth is that our community has discussed its lack of diversity, particularly related to race and gender, for decades with few measurable improvements (Bernard & Cooperdock, 2018; Bromery, 1972). This lack of diversity, which spans race, gender, disability, sexuality and other social categories, contributes directly to the lack of inclusion and equity experienced by people from marginalized groups (Dutt, 2020). Recent efforts have focused on systemic bias-the ways in which institutional culture, norms, and procedures exclude people based on their social identity and/or background, in both intentional and unintentional ways. Several calls have been made to address this at the institutional and federal agency level (e.g., notimeforsilence.org), and many professional societies responded by updating codes of conduct and retooling other functions with a diversity lens. At the same time, faculty, principal investigators (PIs), and other scientists that manage labs, lead fieldwork, or teach students also have an important role to play. As authoritative figures of environments that people navigate on a near-daily basis, these individuals have outsized influence over the spaces where students and trainees most keenly feel the adverse impacts of systemic bias. This power to alter career trajectories is most apparent with reference letters, grades, and providing access to resources and opportunities ("gatekeeping"), but it also manifests subtly in day-today interactions and norms that can either support or undermine people's sense of belonging, fulfillment, and confidence. Here, we highlight actions for scientists supervising labs, fieldwork, and classrooms to address systemic biases that impact students and trainees, our next generation of geoscientists. While faculty and PIs are the target of this article, these ideas are relevant to any individual in a position of authority (e.g., lab managers, teaching assistants, fieldwork organizers). We focus on tractable actions that can have immediate positive impacts for marginalized community members, mitigating harm while critical but protracted progress continues at higher organizational levels (Keisling et al., 2020; Ovienmhada et al., 2020). We call on all scientists in leadership roles to personally reflect and engage with research on anti-oppressive practices published by historians, social scientists, and education scholars, and to translate this learning into sustained, lifelong action.

show abstract

“…Lastly, fieldwork can become more inclusive by avoiding practices like "parachute science," in which Western scientists gather data in other countries and then leave without collaborating with or investing in those communities. Researchers should meaningfully involve Indigenous and other local communities and collaborators to incorporate non-Western knowledge systems and avoid exacerbating inequalities (e.g., Maldonado et al, 2016;North et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Counteracting Systemic Bias in the Lab, Field, and Classroom

Cooperdock

Chen

Guevara

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Events in 2020, including the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, ignited a global conversation across all sectors of society about racism, white supremacy, and other systems of oppression experienced by marginalized groups. The geoscience community has responded with statements, reading groups, and committees addressing the overall lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our field. The sad truth is that our community has discussed its lack of diversity, particularly related to race and gender, for decades with few measurable improvements (Bernard & Cooperdock, 2018;Bromery, 1972). This lack of diversity, which spans race, gender, disability, sexuality and other social categories, contributes directly to the lack of inclusion and equity experienced by people from marginalized groups (Dutt, 2020).Recent efforts have focused on systemic bias-the ways in which institutional culture, norms, and procedures exclude people based on their social identity and/or background, in both intentional and unintentional ways. Several calls have been made to address this at the institutional and federal agency level (e.g., notimeforsilence.org), and many professional societies responded by updating codes of conduct and retooling other functions with a diversity lens. At the same time, faculty, principal investigators (PIs), and other scientists that manage labs, lead fieldwork, or teach students also have an important role to play. As authoritative figures of environments that people navigate on a near-daily basis, these individuals have outsized influence over the spaces where students and trainees most keenly feel the adverse impacts of systemic bias. This power to alter career trajectories is most apparent with reference letters, grades, and providing access to resources and opportunities ("gatekeeping"), but it also manifests subtly in day-to-day interactions and norms that can either support or undermine people's sense of belonging, fulfillment, and confidence.Here, we highlight actions for scientists supervising labs, fieldwork, and classrooms to address systemic biases that impact students and trainees, our next generation of geoscientists. While faculty and PIs are the target of this article, these ideas are relevant to any individual in a position of authority (e.g., lab managers, teaching assistants, fieldwork organizers). We focus on tractable actions that can have immediate positive impacts for marginalized community members, mitigating harm while critical but protracted progress continues at higher organizational levels (Keisling et al., 2020;Ovienmhada et al., 2020). We call on all scientists in leadership roles to personally reflect and engage with research on anti-oppressive practices published by historians, social scientists, and education scholars, and to translate this learning into sustained, life-long action.

show abstract

Out of Africa: The underrepresentation of African authors in high-impact geoscience literature

Cited by 87 publications

References 26 publications

International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences

International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences

Counteracting Systemic Bias in the Lab, Field, and Classroom

Counteracting Systemic Bias in the Lab, Field, and Classroom

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