The evolution of local engagement and the mode of knowledge production in Arctic research: 2011–2020

Community-based approaches have received considerable attention in Arctic research discourse over the last couple of decades with some claims of a new research paradigm taking shape within this region. Here, we sought to empirically test if Arctic research has been transformed by an increased involvement of local people in the 10 years following the end of the time period examined in Brunet et al. (N.D. Brunet, G.M. Hickey, and M.M. Humphries. 2014. The evolution of local participation and the mode of knowledge production in Arctic research. Ecology and Society, 19(2): 69. doi:10.5751/ ES-06641-190269), where trends from 1965 to 2010 were explored. We used a quantitative assessment framework to conduct an analysis of all research articles appearing between 2011 and 2020 in the journal Arctic. We found no significant changes in local engagement over this time period nor clear indications of a paradigm shift, despite policy changes supporting self-determination in research in some jurisdictions. We found that, in general, trends from the 2014 study held true for the 2011–2020 time period with a few minor distinctions. We discuss key themes that have emerged from this study, namely some promising authorship trends, the continued role of certain disciplines in leading the push towards meaningful local engagement and the contributions of climate change research to local leadership in research.