Low contribution of Caribbean-based researchers to academic publications on biodiversity conservation in the insular Caribbean

Abstract

The insular Caribbean is among the most threatened global biodiversity hotspots, warranting urgent and effective action in conservation. However, the capacity of Caribbean-based researchers to address challenges in biodiversity conservation appears limited. To assess the latter, we used the contribution of Caribbean-based authors to the production of peer-reviewed journal papers on biodiversity conservation in the insular Caribbean as a proxy for research capacity. Moreover, because the insular Caribbean is a complex geopolitical system including sovereign states and overseas territories, we examined the contributions of these two groups to the number of papers published. We used the Web of Science Core collection to search for papers by combining the terms “Biodiversity” and/or “Conservation” with either “Carib*” or “Antill*” between 2000 and 2015. This procedure yielded 489 peer-reviewed papers in 145 scientific journals. Over the study period, only 36.6% of all papers included Caribbean-based authors, and Caribbean-based authors accounted for only 17.4% of yearly authorships per paper, with no increases over time. The proportion of papers with only Caribbean-based authors was small (8.0%), although the impact factors of the journals where these papers were published increased over time. Overall, Caribbean-based authors from overseas territories produced more papers than those from sovereign states, but this was mainly due to the large contribution of Puerto Rico. Despite facing similar biodiversity challenges, there was little research collaboration between overseas territories and sovereign states. Our results are a call to action to change the status quo in biodiversity research in one of the most biodiversity-rich regions of the world.