Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Tapping into non-English-language science for the conservation of global biodiversity
Author Amano, T.; Berdejo-Espinola, V.; Christie, A.P.; Willott, K.; Akasaka, M.; Báldi, A.; Berthinussen, A.; Bertolino, S.; Bladon, A.J.; Chen, M.; Choi, C.-Y.; Bou Dagher Kharrat, M.; de Oliveira, L.G.; Farhat, P.; Golivets, M. ORCID logo ; Hidalgo Aranzamendi, N.; Jantke, K.; Kajzer-Bonk, J.; Çisel Kemahlı Aytekin, M.; Khorozyan, I.; Kito, K.; Konno, K.; Lin, D.-L.; Littlewood, N.; Liu, Y.; Liu, Y.; Loretto, M.-C.; Marconi, V.; Martin, P.A.; Morgan, W.H.; Narváez-Gómez, J.P.; Negret, P.J.; Nourani, E.; Ochoa Quintero, J.M.; Ockendon, N.; Oh, R.R.Y. ORCID logo ; Petrovan, S.O.; Piovezan-Borges, A.C.; Pollet, I.L.; Ramos, D.L.; Reboredo Segovia, A.L.; Rivera-Villanueva, A.N.; Rocha, R.; Rouyer, M.-M.; Sainsbury, K.A.; Schuster, R.; Schwab, D.; Şekercioğlu, Ç.H.; Seo, H.-M.; Shackelford, G.; Shinoda, Y.; Smith, R.K.; Tao, S.-D.; Tsai, M.-S.; Tyler, E.H.M.; Vajna, F.; Valdebenito, J.O.; Vozykova, S.; Waryszak, P.; Zamora-Gutierrez, V.; Zenni, R.D.; Zhou, W.; Sutherland, W.J.
Source Titel PLoS Biology
Year 2021
Department BZF; iDiv; ESS
Volume 19
Issue 10
Page From e3001296
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Y94ZT
Supplements https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296.s009
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296.s010
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296.s011
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296.s012
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296.s013
Keywords biodiversity conservation; lack of evidence; English-language studies; non-English-language studies
Abstract The widely held assumption that any important scientific information would be available in English underlies the underuse of non-English-language science across disciplines. However, non-English-language science is expected to bring unique and valuable scientific information, especially in disciplines where the evidence is patchy, and for emergent issues where synthesising available evidence is an urgent challenge. Yet such contribution of non-English-language science to scientific communities and the application of science is rarely quantified. Here, we show that non-English-language studies provide crucial evidence for informing global biodiversity conservation. By screening 419,679 peer-reviewed papers in 16 languages, we identified 1,234 non-English-language studies providing evidence on the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation interventions, compared to 4,412 English-language studies identified with the same criteria. Relevant non-English-language studies are being published at an increasing rate in 6 out of the 12 languages where there were a sufficient number of relevant studies. Incorporating non-English-language studies can expand the geographical coverage (i.e., the number of 2° × 2° grid cells with relevant studies) of English-language evidence by 12% to 25%, especially in biodiverse regions, and taxonomic coverage (i.e., the number of species covered by the relevant studies) by 5% to 32%, although they do tend to be based on less robust study designs. Our results show that synthesising non-English-language studies is key to overcoming the widespread lack of local, context-dependent evidence and facilitating evidence-based conservation globally. We urge wider disciplines to rigorously reassess the untapped potential of non-English-language science in informing decisions to address other global challenges.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=25226
Amano, T., Berdejo-Espinola, V., Christie, A.P., Willott, K., Akasaka, M., Báldi, A., Berthinussen, A., Bertolino, S., Bladon, A.J., Chen, M., Choi, C.-Y., Bou Dagher Kharrat, M., de Oliveira, L.G., Farhat, P., Golivets, M., Hidalgo Aranzamendi, N., Jantke, K., Kajzer-Bonk, J., Çisel Kemahlı Aytekin, M., Khorozyan, I., Kito, K., Konno, K., Lin, D.-L., Littlewood, N., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Loretto, M.-C., Marconi, V., Martin, P.A., Morgan, W.H., Narváez-Gómez, J.P., Negret, P.J., Nourani, E., Ochoa Quintero, J.M., Ockendon, N., Oh, R.R.Y., Petrovan, S.O., Piovezan-Borges, A.C., Pollet, I.L., Ramos, D.L., Reboredo Segovia, A.L., Rivera-Villanueva, A.N., Rocha, R., Rouyer, M.-M., Sainsbury, K.A., Schuster, R., Schwab, D., Şekercioğlu, Ç.H., Seo, H.-M., Shackelford, G., Shinoda, Y., Smith, R.K., Tao, S.-D., Tsai, M.-S., Tyler, E.H.M., Vajna, F., Valdebenito, J.O., Vozykova, S., Waryszak, P., Zamora-Gutierrez, V., Zenni, R.D., Zhou, W., Sutherland, W.J. (2021):
Tapping into non-English-language science for the conservation of global biodiversity
PLoS Biol. 19 (10), e3001296 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001296