THE INCREASING DIVIDE BETWEEN FIRST-WORLD AND THIRD-WORLD - SCIENCE, COLLABORATION AND CONSERVATION OF THIRD-WORLD AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS

1. Ten of the leading journals in the field of freshwater ecology were identified using the Science Citation Index's Journal Citation Report s. These journals were surveyed to assess the levels and patterns of c ollaboration in research initiatives in regions of the Third World. Me mbership demographics of five professional societies in this field wer e also examined to elucidate distribution patterns of practitioners in the field. 2. In total, 8960 papers were surveyed, of which only fort y were published in a language other than English. Senior authors came from 114 of the 130 different countries listed among authors' address es. Of these, forty-five were from Third World countries and sixty-nin e from the First World. Five countries were responsible for 60.64% of the papers submitted; the United States = 25.65%; Canada = 11.55%; Aus tralia = 10.15%; the United Kingdom = 6.73%; New Zealand = 6.56%. Mult i-authored papers accounted for 73.05% of all papers. 3. Papers by aut hors from Third World countries accounted for only 10.93% of single-au thor papers and less than 10% of multi-authored papers. Collaboration was found in 73.05% of the papers surveyed, the vast majority of which (87.39%) was between authors from First World countries. Only 825 (9. 21%) of the papers surveyed involved authors from different countries. Most of this collaboration (72.36%) was between authors from differen t First World countries. 4. Some 1038 papers surveyed included researc h undertaken in, or included authors from, Third World countries. The majority of these papers (69.08%) were submitted by authors from Third World countries, involving either multiple or single authorship. The third most common publication relating to research in Third World regi ons (17.4%) came from single-author papers in which the authors were f rom a First World country. Only four of the papers surveyed were submi tted by single authors from Third World countries working in First Wor ld countries. 5. There is a disproportionate representation of taxonom ic (20.3%) and marine (10.5%) papers from the Third World regions in c omparison to both lentic (8.0%) and lotic (7.4%) papers. 6. Membership demographics of the professional societies surveyed continue to refle ct the historical origins of freshwater ecology. More than 80% of memb ers in the three largest societies examined are registered in Europe a nd North America, while membership of the remaining societies remains largely regional. 7. It is argued that present levels of collaboration and technology transfer from the First World to the Third World are i nadequate and that, given the widening gulf in terms of personnel and resources, the future of essential research on inland waters in the Th ird World does not bode well unless in situ capacity building within T hird World countries becomes a target of First World research and fund ing agencies.