US publications on Greenland fell 23 percent over decade

The number of US research publications about Greenland fell by 23 percent between 2015 and 2024, according to a report presented by Arctic Hub and reported by DR.

The decline was particularly clear in the physical sciences from 2021 onwards. Publications related to climate change fell by 32 percent, the report found.

The findings come as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to control Greenland. His rhetoric has intensified since he first raised the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, but US research activity appears to have declined over the same longer period.

Sara Olsvig, a researcher at the University of Greenland who focuses on relations between Greenland and the United States, described the development as “paradoxical”.

“We know that there has been growing interest from the United States in Greenland under different administrations throughout this period,” she said.

“It is concerning because we know that from 2024 onwards, the United States has reduced its research activity generally, and particularly in climate research,” said Olsvig, who is also a board member of ICC Greenland.

Arctic Hub serves as a link between Greenland’s local and international research communities. The organisation was established in 2021 through cooperation between Greenland and Denmark, and its secretariat is based in Nuuk.

The report, titled Research in Greenland, was produced by the Centre for Research Analysis at Aarhus University on behalf of Arctic Hub. It found that between 1,700 and 1,800 research publications about Greenland were published each year during the period studied.

In 2024, Canada, the United States and Denmark published clearly the highest number of research articles about Greenland.

Arctic Hub did not examine research activity through 2026 because newer figures may not yet be fully registered or comparable. It therefore selected the 10-year period from 2015 to 2024.

The report also found that much of the research in Greenland is not conducted in cooperation with local researchers or research institutions. On average, only about 10 percent of the publications had a Greenlandic research partner.

“There is still a long way to go before, for example, ICC protocols for ethical and equal engagement are fully implemented, and before equal partnerships with Indigenous peoples are established when research is carried out in their country,” Olsvig said.

She said the figures did not surprise her, comparing the process of changing research practices to “getting a large supertanker to change course”.

Avijâja Rosing-Olsen, head of the Arctic Hub secretariat, said the report showed that there was a need to examine how research could best create value for Greenland.

Olsvig said the report should also help accelerate work on legislation governing research in Greenland.

“We all know that data and knowledge can also be converted into power. In these times, when geopolitics is what it is, it is very important to have the administrative and legal framework firmly in place,” she said.