Global soil science research collaboration in the 21st century: Time to end helicopter research

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114299

Geoderma

Volume 373, 15 August 2020, 114299

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114299 Get rights and content

Abstract

Global soil science research collaboration is essential to understand soil and its role in global ecosystem functioning. In particular, collaboration between developed and less-developed countries can generate new knowledge and provide capacity building. However, this collaboration is not always equal. ‘Helicopter research’ in soil science describes the situation where scientists from wealthier nations collect soil samples from less-developed countries, take the samples back to their country for analysis and publish the results with little involvement of local researchers. This article briefly reviews colonial science and helicopter research from different fields including soil science, and highlights the negative effects. The argument that local scientists do not fulfil the criteria of being an author is often used as an excuse for not establishing true collaboration. Finally, this paper offers suggestions to achieve equal research partnerships and ground helicopter research. Soil science can provide leadership in this issue which is less-discussed in cognate fields.

Introduction

Global collaboration is important to improve our understanding of the world’s limited soil resources so they can be used sustainably to support food, water, energy security, biodiversity protection, and ecosystem services (FAO, 2015) and of course, soil security itself. However, in some cases involving developed and less-developed countries, the partnership is not equal. A recent conversation among scientists on Twitter discussed the difficulty of finding a local co-author in Kenya. The following are quotes from the discussion:

“Partner with PhD students who are nationals or have lived in the country. They might not be experts in the topic, but can give valuable feedback on the context & help with the field-work. In return, they will have a paper for their dissertation & learn a lot!”
“Why are people looking for co-authors? That is NOT collaboration. If we are sincere, we should be seeking out partnerships at idea conception, and work together on grant application, and distribute research and investigator roles equitably.”
“We need to move past inclusivity tokenism and into true partnership and collaboration.”

Negative sentiments towards international research conducted in developing countries are growing. Many of the comments shunned the idea of simply finding a co-author, citing ‘tokenism’ and the need for true collaboration. This paper explores common practice for research involving data collection from less-developed countries.

Section snippets

Helicopter research

Helicopter research, parachute research, or neo-colonial research are synonymous terms which describe situation where researchers from wealthier countries (usually called global north, although Australia and New Zealand fit in this category), fly to a developing country (global south), collect data and specimens, fly out, analyse the data and specimens elsewhere, and publish the results with little involvement from local scientists. At best, local scientists are used to provide logistical

Colonial research

Colonial research refers to research undertaken in a country when it was subject to the administration of a colonial power. Foremost, the rich nature and unique ecosystems of the tropics attracted much colonial research. The work by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in Southeast Asia in the 19th century was largely dependent on local residents; one estimate is at least 1200 individuals contributed to his work (van Wyhe, 2018). Wallace’s assistant, Ali, a teenager from Sarawak Borneo,

Helicopter research in different fields and soil science

We can readily identify helicopter research from area-specific publications which were mainly authored by international researchers, with one or two local researchers at the end of the authors’ list. Rochmyaningsih (2018) contends that adding a local scientist’s name to the end of a list appears to be little more than a token gesture, yet the work could not have been done without them.

Parachute research is a term commonly used in medical and health studies. In medical science, urgent research

Decolonialising research and collaboration in the 21st century

In the 21st century, soil science collaboration should be global. The first author of this paper frequently collaborate with scientists from European and North American countries in joint publications, and this partnership spirit should apply to all countries equally, regardless of location.

In digital soil mapping, we distinguish between top-down and bottom-up approaches (Arrouays et al., 2018). Two projects, GlobalSoilMap and SoilGrids, aim to deliver global maps of soil properties.

Acknowledgements

This article is a further discussion from our previous article in The Conversation (Minasny and Fiantis, 2018). Alex McBratney provided constructive discussions and Alisa Bryce helped with the editing of this article.

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Global soil science research collaboration in the 21st century: Time to end helicopter research

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Helicopter research

Colonial research

Helicopter research in different fields and soil science

Decolonialising research and collaboration in the 21st century

Acknowledgements

Lancet Global Health

Lancet Global Health

Lancet Global Health

Cell

The GlobalSoilMap project: past, present, future, and national examples from France

Dokuchaev Soil Bull.

Moving to research partnerships in developing countries

BMJ

The hybridity of colonial knowledge: British tropical agricultural science and African farming practices at the end of empire