Local emergence, global expansion: understanding the structural evolution of a bi-lingual national research landscape

Abstract

Research institutions organize their scientific activities in an increasingly diverse landscape. In matters of global interest, research relies on an ever-more cross-disciplinary background, which reveals intriguing questions concerning the local dynamics vs. global audiences. This paper proposes new methodological tools to assess, from a strategic perspective, the evolution of a given research landscape. It relies on the Global Research Institute of Paris’ recent experience, a new interdisciplinary Institute focusing on globalization topics beyond the usual economic meaning. The Institute leans on a broad and diverse set of research units of the Université de Paris and relates to the broad landscape of social sciences in France. This article charts the evolution of French authors’ scientific publications on the Institute’s thematic interests in French and English. It focuses on the structural features of the debate, namely the volume, the underlying historical semantic structure, and its main thematic domains. The paper offers significant evidence to understand knowledge circulation dynamics and links that non-speaking countries’ scientific literature builds with the English one.