Global asymmetries in knowledge production of human ancient DNA studies. a bibliometric analysis from a Latin American perspective

Abstract

Ancient DNA research began in the 1980s with the advent of DNA amplification and sequencing technologies. After 40 years and in the middle of the genomic era, aDNA studies are immersed in ethical discussions, including the voices of indigenous communities and Global South researchers on inequalities in the knowledge production process. With the aim of contributing to understanding their history and development within Biological Anthropology and the global dynamics in the discipline, we performed a bibliometric analysis on scientific articles published between 1988 and 2024, retrieved from PubMed. We found that these studies experienced sustained growth, with global and gender inequalities shown by a predominance of male authors from the Global North publishing in high-impact journals, mainly in the biological sciences. Latin American countries contributed a low number of publications, many of them in collaboration with the main productive centers that own large-scale genomic processing facilities. Also, much Latin American research production is less visible due to belonging to other, regional-scale repositories. This model has consequences on interdisciplinary research, equitable collaborations, and local agendas development, and contribute to perpetuating asymmetries when analysis and evaluations are performed without situated and contextualized qualitative approaches.