Rich countries overwhelmingly dominate paleontology research, even when the fossils do not originate there, a new study shows. Researchers analyzed 26,409 paleobiology papers from 1990 to 2020 and found that scientists in high- or upper-middle-income countries contributed to 97 percent of fossil research. And those from former colonial powers disproportionately controlled fossils from their former colonies. For example, French researchers conducted a quarter of all paleontology studies in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria; German scientists carried out 17 percent of research on fossils from Tanzania; and 10 percent of studies on South African and Egyptian fossils were conducted by British investigators.
“This was very eye-opening,” says Nussaïbah B. Raja-Schoob, a paleontologist at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany, who co-led the study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. “With colonialism, certain countries already had an advantage. After independence, the knowledge wasn’t transferred back, so a lot of countries had to start from scratch and with less money.”
Credit: Youyou Zhou; Source: “Colonial History and Global Economics Distort Our Understanding of Deep-Time Biodiversity,” by Nussaïbah B. Raja et al., in Nature Ecology & Evolution; February 2022
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
Thank you,
Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American
