The Gollum Effect: The Issue of Research Opportunity Guarding in Academia

Despite conservation research becoming increasingly more collaborative over the last decades (Wuchty et al., 2007; Adams, 2013), access to resources, such as species, study sites, and sometimes even research topics or entire fields remain restricted. This is partly caused by scientists who have become possessively attached and guard these aspects of their research; an issue we refer to as the Gollum effect, inspired by the character from Lord of the Rings. Researchers exposed to the Gollum effect are disparaged or suppressed from conducting research by others who believe they have the sole right to do so and that permission is required. While rarely discussed, hogging research opportunities is equally as harmful as negligent academic gatekeeping (O'Dowd, 2014; Lee et al., 2021), parachute science (Asase et al., 2021; Stefanoudis et al., 2021), or the suppression of data accessibility (Harris, 1999). This is particularly the case for early career researchers, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior professors, who already face often extreme power imbalances while trying to forge a career (Woolston, 2020). However, unlike the issues surrounding data sharing and accessibility, these resources and areas of study are not intellectual property that some have the rights to over others.