Assessing the impact of geopolitics on international scientific cooperation - The case of US-China marine pollution research

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the impact of geopolitical changes on international cooperation in scientific research using a case study of Sino-US international scientific cooperation in the field of marine pollution research. The potential impact of U.S.-China international relations on U.S.-China international scientific research cooperation in marine pollution research using scientometric technique based on the Web of science core dataset. The results show that (i) The deterioration of U.S.-China international relations hasn't decreased in the number of publications in this field, and the number of publications in both China and the United States has shown an increasing trend. Moreover, after 2015, China's publications surpassed those of the United States to become the leading country in scientific research output in the field of marine pollution; (ii) The annual average number of collaborative publications between China and the United States is increasing under the influence of geopolitics, and the scientific research links between them are growing under the influence of geopolitics. The scientific research ties between the two countries remain strengthened during the deterioration of international relations; (ii) As international relations change, China's international partners expand with high frequency of cooperation, while the U.S. has less change in the number of international partners and maintains a stable cooperation. In terms of scientific research output in the field of marine pollution between the US and China, the impact of geopolitics on inter-country research cooperation has not been evident.