Database of Indigenous (Co)-Created Arctic Research Guidelines

This database includes only documents authored or co-authored by Arctic Indigenous Peoples, communities, or organizations.

We focus on Indigenous authorship because recent growing interest in ethical, collaborative research has led to more requests for support, feedback, or partnership from Indigenous communities, leading to research fatigue. These documents help reduce the need for communities to repeatedly explain how to engage in research in a good and respectful way.

This database aims to honour the work already done, amplify trusted and locally grounded knowledge, and support capacity-conscious approaches to research. While some non-Indigenous institutions offer, Indigenous-developed guidance (Chapter 9 of Canada’s Tri-Council Policy Statement is a frequently noted example), it is essential to centre Indigenous leadership in work that affects their rights, lands, governance, and ways of life.

This database focuses on guidance for ethical collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners in Arctic research that may directly or indirectly impact Indigenous Peoples, communities, or territories. In the Arctic, most research is likely to be relevant to Indigenous communities, though it is up to them to define what is meaningful or impactful.

We acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples have always, and continue to, conduct research on their own terms. Here, we only include guidance developed for collaborative research. We do not include materials intended solely for internal community use.

Broader Indigenous-led frameworks, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, offer essential context and inform ethical research. While important to be familiar with, they are not included here as they are not specific to Arctic research.

This database includes written documents that are publicly accessible online, for example, on public-facing community or organizational websites or in open-access journals.

We acknowledge that some communities or organizations may have guidelines that are not available in this way. Some guidance may only be shared within communities, offline, or through paid platforms, and therefore is not represented here. This database does not include unpublished, oral, restricted-access, or non-digitized materials. While written guidance is prioritized due to the nature of desk-based research, not all protocols take written form. Local guidance and protocols shared in any format take precedence over anything included in this database.

This database includes guidance from Arctic Indigenous communities in the regions where our organizations operate: Sápmi (northern Europe), North America, and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland).

We focus on the Arctic because of its unique context and research landscape. While broader Indigenous-led frameworks, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, are important and relevant, this database highlights region-specific guidance rooted in Arctic communities.

We acknowledge that defining “the Arctic” is not straightforward. Shaped by colonial histories, administrative and political boundaries may exclude communities that identify as Arctic based on cultural, ecological, and relational ties to the land. In contrast, this database takes a relational approach, centring Indigenous understandings of place and belonging. It includes materials from communities recognized as part of the Arctic by Indigenous Peoples themselves, regardless of whether they fall within conventional state definitions.

This database presents a snapshot of Arctic Indigenous research guidance available online as of August 2025.

While we have done our best to include all relevant documents, some may be missing. Without ongoing funding, the database is not expected to be regularly updated beyond this point. We encourage users to view it as a starting point and to seek out more recent or locally specific guidance when beginning new research relationships.