Language inclusion in ecological systematic reviews and maps: Barriers and perspectives
Hannah, K., Haddaway, N.R., Fuller, R.A. & Amano, T. (2024) Research Synthesis Methods.
Systematic reviews and maps are considered a reliable form of research evidence, but often neglect non-English-language literature, which can be a source of important evidence. To understand the barriers that might limit authors’ ability or intent to find and include non-English-language literature, this paper assessed systematic reviews and maps published in Environmental Evidence (n = 72) and also surveyed authors from each paper (n = 32 responses).
The paper found that 44% of the reviewed papers (32/72) excluded non-English literature from their searches and inclusions. Regression analysis revealed that reviews with larger author teams, authors from diverse countries, especially those with non-English primary languages, and teams with multilingual capabilities searched in a significantly greater number of non-English languages (Figure 1).
Through surveying authors, we identified key barriers to incorporating non-English language literature, notably limited language diversity within review teams and constrained funding (Figure 2). To mitigate these challenges, we propose strategies such as enhancing language diversity within review teams, leveraging machine translation alongside language skills to alleviate translation burdens, and advocating for dedicated funding to cover translation expenses. Additionally, we advocate for the establishment of language exchange mechanisms to facilitate access to information across diverse linguistic contexts.
