An explorative study on international collaboration and its role in research trajectory: Evidence from U.S.-China collaboration in nanotechnology

Abstract

The impacts of international collaboration on research performance have been extensively explored in the last two decades. Most research, however, focuses on quantity and citation-based indicators. Utilizing the turnover of keywords, this study develops a new method tracking the shift of the research stream and tests it within the context of U.S.-China collaboration in nanotechnology. The results find evidence in support of the linkage between the emergence of new research stream(s) of Chinese researchers in the event of U.S.-China collaboration. It also finds that the triggered research stream diffused further via extended coauthorship. Policy implications for both the U.S. and China S&T development are discussed in the end.