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Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber - PubMed

️Sat Jan 01 2022

Review

Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber

Emma M Dunne et al. Commun Biol. 2022.

Abstract

Fossil material in amber from Myanmar can provide important insights into mid-Cretaceous forest ecosystems. However, Myanmar amber has been receiving increased international attention due to reported links between amber mining and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in northern Myanmar, as well as the legal issues associated with its exportation. Here, we conduct a bibliometric analysis of Myanmar amber publications (1990-2021) and demonstrate how research interest in Myanmar amber is explicitly linked to major political, legal, and economic changes. An analysis of the authorship networks for publications on amber inclusions reveals how current research practices have excluded Myanmar researchers from the field. In addition, the international trade of Myanmar amber with fossil inclusions falls into a legal 'grey-zone' which continues to be exploited. This case study vividly demonstrates that systemic changes, alongside an increased awareness of inequitable research practices amongst the broader scientific and allied communities, are urgently needed to curb illegal practices in palaeontology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1. Locations in Myanmar associated with Myanmar amber and areas of major conflict.**
Location of Myanmar in Southeast Asia (inset) and location of Kachin state in Northern Myanmar (main). Many amber mines are located in Hukawng Valley (circled), close to the city of Tanai. Also included are the major amber trading cities of Myitkyina in Myanmar and Tengchong in Yunnan, China. Star icons denote major areas where conflict (e.g. armed clashes and violence against civilians) has been reported in July 2020 to December 2021 (sourced from The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project;
www.acleddata.com
).

**Fig. 2. Trends in Myanmar amber publication activity including important political, legal, and commercial events since 1990.**
Temporal trends are based on a 3-year rolling average to allow time for the publication and peer review process.

**Fig. 3. Countries where authors are based who have conducted research on Myanmar amber and non-amber fossils from Myanmar.**
World countries affiliated with authors who have conducted research on Myanmar amber (orange semi-circles) and non-amber fossils from Myanmar (brown semi-circles) from 2014–2021 when the number of publications on Myanmar amber was rapidly increasing year on year. An expanded view of the countries of Europe is shown in the inset.

**Fig. 4. Collaboration networks between authors who publish on Myanmar amber both before and after 2014.**
Collaboration networks between countries (a) pre-2014 and (b) post-2014 (includes the year 2014). The chords represent connections between the affiliated country of the lead author (at chord base) and the affiliated countries of their co-authors (at the arrowhead). Chord thickness represents the relative number of publications co-authored by two particular countries where at least one country was the affiliate country of the lead author. Country’s segments and chords are coloured according to continental region.

Comment in

Tracking amber trends.
Nic Eoin L. Nic Eoin L. Nat Ecol Evol. 2023 Jan;7(1):4. doi: 10.1038/s41559-022-01963-0. Nat Ecol Evol. 2023. PMID: 36631674 No abstract available.

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Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber - PubMed