![]() We tried to estimate the number of conservation-related scientific documents published in the world’s major languages. Language barriers can cause gaps in information availability during the global compilation of scientific knowledge, as scientific information is available not only in English but also in many other languages. Focusing on environmental sciences as an example, we here investigate the potential extent and consequences of language barriers in the two directions and propose solutions for reducing this potentially overlooked problem. Languages can seriously limit the transfer of knowledge in environmental sciences in two directions: when compiling scientific knowledge-for example, in global assessments, such as those by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)-and when applying knowledge to local environmental issues, often tackled by field practitioners and local policy makers. Language barriers may be a particularly serious problem in subjects in which local knowledge is especially important, such as environmental sciences required for biodiversity conservation. However, the magnitude of this problem is not well quantified, and the consequences and solutions deserve further exploration. Locally, however, many scientists and users of scientific information, such as policy makers, communicate on a daily basis in languages other than English, which inevitably creates barriers to the transfer of knowledge between communities. Provenance: Not commissioned externally peer reviewed.Įnglish is obviously the language that currently dominates global scientific activities as a lingua franca. Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. ![]() Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ![]() Isaac Newton Trust (grant number 15.23(s)). European Commission's Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (grant number H2020-MSCA-IF-2014- 656572). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: European Commission’s Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship Programme (grant number PIIF-GA-2011-303221). PLoS Biol 14(12):Ĭopyright: © 2016 Amano et al. We urge scientific communities to make a more concerted effort to tackle this problem and propose potential approaches both for compiling non-English scientific knowledge effectively and for enhancing the multilingualization of new and existing knowledge available only in English for the users of such knowledge.Ĭitation: Amano T, González-Varo JP, Sutherland WJ (2016) Languages Are Still a Major Barrier to Global Science. This hinders its use by field practitioners and policy makers for local environmental issues 54% of protected area directors in Spain identified languages as a barrier. Furthermore, as publication in English has become prevalent, scientific knowledge is often unavailable in local languages. Ignoring such non-English knowledge can cause biases in our understanding of study systems. However, our survey searching Google Scholar in 16 languages revealed that 35.6% of 75,513 scientific documents on biodiversity conservation published in 2014 were not in English. While it is recognized that language can pose a barrier to the transfer of scientific knowledge, the convergence on English as the global language of science may suggest that this problem has been resolved.
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