Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil

Scientific practices stemming from colonialism, whereby middle- and low-income countries supply data for high-income countries and the contributions of local expertise are devalued, are still prevalent today in the field of palaeontology. In response to these unjust practices, countries such as Mexico and Brazil adopted protective laws and regulations during the twentieth century to preserve their palaeontological heritage. However, scientific colonialism is still reflected in many publications describing fossil specimens recovered from these countries. Here, we present examples of 'palaeontological colonialism' from publications on Jurassic-Cretaceous fossils from NE Mexico and NE Brazil spanning the last three decades. Common issues that we identified in these publications are the absence of both fieldwork and export permit declarations and the lack of local experts among authorships. In Mexico, access to many fossil specimens is restricted on account of these specimens being housed in private collections, whereas a high number of studies on Brazilian fossils are based on specimens illegally reposited in foreign collections, particularly in Germany and Japan. Finally, we outline and discuss the wider academic and social impacts of these research practices, and propose exhaustive recommendations to scientists, journals, museums, research institutions and government and funding agencies in order to overcome these practices.

Automated summary

This article points out the ongoing colonial practices in the field of paleontology, where middle- and low-income countries supply data for high-income countries while local expertise is devalued. Mexico and Brazil have adopted protective laws and regulations to preserve their paleontological heritage, but these practices are still evident in many publications. Issues such as the absence of fieldwork and export permit declarations, as well as the lack of local experts among authors, were identified. Access to fossil specimens in Mexico is restricted due to their storage in private collections, while studies on Brazilian fossils often rely on illegally reposited specimens in foreign collections.