# A "Fair Trade" logo for academic research?


[![left ](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/468843631_5cc9b31d54_m.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55305480@N00/468843631/)

It’s
hard to take any anthropology courses without hearing about research
ethics from professors eager to deal with anthropology’s colonial past,
and before we went on our field works we also discussed quite a bit
about research ethics. There are many aspects to this field, however
many face the issue because they need to get “ethics approval” for any
research on human subjects. They have to promise things like anonymity,
informed consent and safety of source data. However, I believe that when
working in developing countries especially, there are other issues that
are also important.

I have come up with a few points that I would like to commit myself to,
and which I think are important and decent in terms of doing research in
developing countries.

-   All research output should be published through open-access
  channels, whether open-access journals, or journals that allow
  self-archiving.
-   All research output should be translated to a language commonly used
  in the language where research was conducted.

The purpose of these two points is to give access to your research for
researchers in the country where you conducted the research. However, if
the people you conducted research on are not comfortable reading
academic papers, translating it might not be enough to give the research
subjects access to your research.

-   Convey the main findings of your research in a way that research
  subjects themselves can understand, whether through a written
  account in an appropriate language and vocabulary, through an oral
  presentation or otherwise.

I personally believe that in being accountable to the people we
research, we are also more responsible in what we write. This is not
meant as censorship, but if we write about rich and powerful, they will
have access to what we have written afterwards anyway, so why be any
*less* careful when we write about marginalized groups, then when we
write about powerful groups?

As I mentioned, many researchers discuss research ethics, but I seldom
see people commit to the points listed above. I was impressed however,
by the answers given by [Dr. Ritty A.
Lukose](http://www.gse.upenn.edu/faculty/lukose.html) during her job
talk at [OISE](http://www.oise.utoronto.ca), when I asked her how she
made sure that her research and scholarship also benefitted people in
Kerala and India, where she does her research. She told me that she
frequently publishes in Indian journals, teaches graduate students in
Bangalore, runs workshops in India, etc. Thus in addition to the
above-mentioned points, one should strive to

-   Collaborate with researchers from developing countries as equal
  partners, taking into considerations their theories and analyses,
  and not just use them as research assistants.
-   Contribute to training graduate students and young researchers in
  developing countries.
-   Help researchers in developing countries get their work published.
-   Contribute to scholarship from developing countries being made
  accessible online so that they can participate in the international
  scholarly discourse.

[![ right](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/354091619_1dbf98772c_m.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/69275268@N00/354091619/)
 The title of this blog post comes from the flippant idea I had this
morning in conversation with my flat mates that perhaps some kind of a
“Fair Research” designation should be developed, with a logo that could
be applied to research materials, certifying that they had followed a
certain number of practices. I realize that this would probably be very
inflexible, as researchers are continually re-evaluating what practices
are appropriate in any given situation. Yet, I would like to see a much
stronger movement to force people to consider these ideas.

Stian

Photo credits:
[volvidejapon](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55305480@N00/468843631/ "volvidejapon"),
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55305480@N00/468843631/ "volvidejapon")[rosemanios](http://www.flickr.com/photos/69275268@N00/354091619/ "rosemanios")