In-depth analysis of international collaboration and inter-institutional collaboration in nuclear science and technology during 2006–2015

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nuclear science and technology (NST) is a promising but dangerous field, and the collaboration patterns were cautiously encouraged to promote this field. An in-depth analysis was conducted to reveal overall trends, collaboration patterns, citation impact, and collaboration networks in NST category of the Science Citation Index Expanded. Newly developed indicators of TC year, CPP year, SNI, and CPP SNI were employed for the concrete analysis. Fruchterman Rheingold default layout algorithm in Gephi 0.9.1, a data visualization and manipulation software, was also used to visualize the network and relationships of collaboration among countries, and institutions. Results show that the leading institutions and countries involve more inter-institutional and international collaborations. The USA and European countries were important centers of global international collaboration network, while Iran was isolated from the international community. National Institute for Nuclear Physics from Italy and Japan Atom Energy Agency were two centers of inter-institutional collaboration network. International collaboration improved scientific impact of almost all countries in NST field. Moreover, a close relationship between one country's scientific papers and nuclear power stations was revealed. This study originally revealed the collaboration patterns and impact of NST during 2006–2015, and provided important information and prior collaborators for researchers and policy-makers.