Globalization of science and international scientific collaboration: A network perspective

Abstract

Science is increasingly global. The number of internationally co-authored papers is growing rapidly. However, there is a paucity of analysis of the globalization of science from the international scientific collaboration perspective. Using bibliographical data from the Web of Science database, this paper uses social network analysis to investigate the structure, dynamics and determinants of international scientific collaboration networks for the period 2000–2015. Results show that globalization of science is becoming increasingly prominent, and the number of nodes and ties in the network has substantially increased over time. A bipolar world once led by Anglo-America is gradually replaced by a tri-polar world (Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific). The traditional science powerhouses have occupied central positions in the network, while the new emergent scientific countries are rising, both driving the evolution of world order. The world science system has an obvious core-periphery structure, and a more competitive multi-centric core is observed. The network hierarchy implies that the USA acts as a top-level coordination center around the world and the international collaboration follows a path-dependent process. In addition, Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) analysis indicates that post-colonial links, English, economic proximity, science capability proximity, social proximity and international student have a positive effect on the international collaboration, while geographical distance plays a negative and insignificant role.