# Effects of publication bias on conservation planning

## TL;DR

This study maps geographic publication density in biodiversity research, revealing biases due to accessibility and conflicts, and offers a model to adjust conservation planning for these biases.

## Contribution

It introduces a provincial-scale model to identify and account for publication biases in conservation planning based on geographic and socio-economic factors.

## Key findings

- Publication bias correlates with accessibility and conflict zones.
- Understudied sites often have high biodiversity potential.
- A priority list of provinces highlights where biases are most significant.

## Abstract

Conservation planning needs reliable information on spatial patterns of biodiversity. However, existing data sets are skewed: some habitats, taxa, and locations are under-represented. Here, we map geographic publication density at the sub-national scale of individual 'provinces'. We query the Web of Science catalogues SCI and SSCI for biodiversity-related publications including country and province names (for the period 1993-2016). We combine these data with other provincial-scale factors hypothesised to affect research (i.e. economic development, human presence, infrastructure and remoteness). We show that sites that appear to be understudied, compared with the biodiversity expected from their bioclimatic conditions, are likely to have been inaccessible to researchers for a diversity of reasons amongst which current or recent armed conflicts are notable. Finally, we create a priority list of provinces where geographic publication bias is of most concern, and discuss how our provincial-scale model can assist in adjusting for publication biases in conservation planning.