Data from: How far have we come? A review of MPA network performance indicators in reaching qualitative elements of Aichi Target 11

Web of Science core collection database (1900 to April 2019) and Elsevier’s Scopus database (1995 to April 2019) has been searched. Key search terms used in Web of Science and Scopus (last search date 08 April 2019 are "marine protected area network*" OR "marine reserve network*" OR "MPA network*" OR "no-take network*" OR "marine protected area system" OR "marine reserve system*” OR "MPA system*" OR "no-take system*" OR "LMMA network" OR "locally managed marine area network" OR "network of MPAs" OR "network of marine protected areas" OR “network of marine reserves” AND "effect*" OR "performance" OR “improve*” OR "success" OR “benefit" OR "enhance*" OR "impact*" OR "outcome" OR "support" OR "ecolog*" OR "abundance" OR "density” OR "size" OR "length" OR "biomass" OR “richness” OR "diversity" OR "habitat quality" OR "number" OR "social*" OR "livelihood" OR “health” OR "wellbeing" OR "well-being" OR "income" OR "employment" OR “ economic*” OR "support" OR "food security" OR “conflict” OR "participation" OR "biodiversity" OR "manage*" OR "equit*" OR “represent*“ OR "connect*" OR "integrate*" OR "governance" OR "adapt*"OR "touris*" OR "recreation".

For all selected publications, we reviewed titles and abstracts to ensure that studies evaluated or discussed the effectiveness of some aspects of an MPA network or system of MPAs. Each of the final publications selected were coded for: (1) geographic location of the study; 2) one or more of the six Aichi Target 11 qualitative elements evaluated; (3) one or more of the dimensions covered by the research (ecological, social, economic, or governance); (4) the stages being evaluated in the process of effective management framework for the assessment of protected area management effectiveness; and (5) the variable(s) used to evaluate each element of the MPA network.