Perspective: Crediting Indigenous Knowledges

This is a very interesting Perspective article by Barry et al. that should be of interest to anyone who has benefitted from Indigenous Knowledges or who teaches about scientific writing. The authors, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars in Australia, explore how Indigenous Knowledges should be cited. While they stress the importance of formally acknowledging these sources, they observe that doing so properly and respectfully is complex, with no one-size-fits all approach feasible. The article starts with a glossary of useful terms, including which terms should be capitalized as proper nouns (including Indigenous people and Indigenous Knowledges). They emphasize the importance of establishing trust “where knowledge can be freely exchanged without fear of exploitation or reprisal,” and establishing a transparent citation process that includes the right to say “no”. Finally, they observe that “citing Indigenous Knowledges in the peer-reviewed literature amplifies the pre-existing (and at times, subliminal) acceptance of Indigenous Knowledges within non-Indigenous research,” which is something we should all strive to do. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) BioScience 10.1093/biosci/biag009