Towards inclusive global collaborations in coral reef science

Protecting and restoring coral reefs demands concerted global efforts that transcend national boundaries. However, equitable participation in coral reef science remains challenging, particularly for researchers from lower-income nations. Through quantitative scientometric analyses and qualitative surveys, we examined global collaboration dynamics in coral reef research. Our findings reveal that high-income countries dominate the research landscape, often sidelining contributions from lower-income regions. While international collaborations were valued for benefits like access to funding, opportunities for professional development, enhanced publication success and improved conservation outcomes, most partnerships were short-term, with limited opportunities for evolving roles. Researchers from developing nations face significant barriers, including undervaluation of contributions, differing expectations around authorship, and ethical concerns like parachute science and tokenism, raising c..., Survey design and implementation
We conducted an international survey aimed at evaluating collaboration and authorship practices within the coral reef science/conservation community. This study was conducted in accordance with ethical guidelines and received approval from the Institutional Biosafety and Ethics Committee (IBEC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under protocol 23IBEC062 and 24IBEC024. All participants were informed about the purpose of the research, and their participation was voluntary. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and they were assured of the confidentiality and anonymity of their responses. Participants were given the right to withdraw from the study at any time without any consequences.
The survey, comprising 58 questions, was open to anyone working with coral reefs and we received responses from people working in academia, NGOs, government, industry, and tourism. The survey addressed a variety of ethical considerati..., , # Towards inclusive global collaborations in coral reef science

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d2547d89w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d2547d89w)

## **Overview**

This dataset contains responses from an international survey on collaboration and authorship practices within the coral reef science and conservation community (published article: [https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00120-x](https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00120-x)). The study explores how researchers across academia, NGOs, government, industry, and tourism collaborate, the challenges they face, and ethical concerns related to authorship, inclusion, and research integrity.

A key focus of the survey was to assess ethical challenges in international collaborations, including parachute science (where foreign researchers conduct studies in lower-income nations without engaging local scientists) and tokenism (where underrepresented groups are included for optics rather than meaningful participation). The dataset also capture...,