Towards a more internationally equitable science

Many of the global challenges we face, including biodiversity conservation and sustainability, require fair and equitable international scientific collaboration. However, not all scientists around the world have the same opportunities to contribute to scientific research. In order to address these scientific inequities, it is important to integrate principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in scientific research. The current scientific landscape is driven by wealth and language, which lead to disparities in scientific opportunities in academia. Firstly, scientists around the world do not have equal access to scientific literature due to differences in wealth. The existence of paywalls in many scientific journals makes it difficult for researchers from economically disadvantaged countries to access important research findings, resulting in a significant gap in scientific knowledge. Secondly, English is the lingua franca in scientific communication, which often puts non-English speaking scientists at a disadvantage. Scientists from English-speaking countries benefit from being able to easily communicate and share their research findings with the broader scientific community. This linguistic divide has contributed to the overrepresentation of rich English-speaking countries among authors and editors of influential journals in many fields. To address these issues, the scientific community, institutions, and funders must work together to promote the inclusion of international scientists and equitable international collaboration. This can be achieved by increasing access to scientific literature and promoting multilingualism in scientific communication. By prioritizing EDI principles in scientific research, we can create a more diverse and inclusive scientific community that is better equipped to tackle pressing global issues. 

About the speaker

Rassim Khelifa (Assistant Professor, Department of Biology) is a quantitative ecologist interested in improving the academic environment by advocating for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. In addition to his ecological work, he has published several works on diversity and inclusion in academic publishing and research.