Global scientific partnerships should generate and share knowledge equitably, but too often exploit research partners in lower-income countries, while disproportionately benefitting those in higher-income countries. Here, I outline my suggestions for more-equitable partnerships.
International scientific collaboration is meant to bring together knowledge and resources to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. Scientists pursue collaborations for many different reasons, from learning, testing and integrating approaches, to sharing and developing new ideas. Collaborations can also help institutions in low- and medium-income countries to access resources they lack, build capacity and increase scientific visibility including through publications and citations. While language1 and other cultural barriers prevent an even geographical distribution of authorships, readership and editorial processes2,3, structural power imbalances in international collaborations remain largely unexplored. My goal, as a Colombia-based scientist with 23 years of experience of international collaboration, is to reflect on how these imbalances are too often embedded in scientific practices between scientists from high- and lower-income nations. These imbalances can result in extractive partnerships where benefits flow in only one direction and may even impoverish research in the disadvantaged country by removing experience and not contributing to local capacity and infrastructure. This practice has been termed ‘helicopter’, ‘parachute’ or ‘colonial’ science4. After years of observing and experiencing the effects, both positive and negative, of the ways in which science and research collaborations in the developing world unfold, and given the prevalence of many unhealthy practices, I propose some guidelines to make international collaboration more inclusive, equitable and in the end more meaningful and relevant for all.
Source: Ecology - nature.com