Research collaboration between global North and global South assessed in terms of published output: a case study of Australia and Vietnam

Abstract

Background: Vietnam and Australia have a long-standing history of collaboration in various fields, notably education, science, and technology. However, the results of this partnership remain indeterminate. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the current state of research coop-eration between Australia and Vietnam with reference to the following aspects: (1) increase in the number of research publications over time; (2) proportion of open access (OA) publications in total publications; (3) collaboration involving countries other than Australia and Vietnam; (4) funding sources; (5) top institutions; (6) subject areas; and (7) research topics. Methods: Scopus data set was analysed to identify those papers with two or more authors, with at least one author from Australia and at least one from Vietnam. Results: Most (nearly 84%) of research papers arising out of such collaborative research were published between 2014 and 2022 (7020 of the total of 8460 documents), and almost half (49.6%) of those are OA. Besides Australia and Vietnam, the authors of those papers were from other countries as well nor were the agencies that funded the research reported in those papers limited to Australia or Vietnam. Among the countries involved in terms of co-authorship or funding, the United States was the most influential. The institutional collaborations formed three distinct clusters, each with a varying number of members and a different university at the core (Australian in two clusters and Vietnamese in the third). Medicine was the most frequent field of collaborative research, and the most frequent topics were Vietnam, coronavirus disease 2019, and climate change. Conclusions: The findings offer useful insights to policymakers as well as to senior management of academic institutes in Vietnam and Australia. The study also extends our understanding of collaborative research between the Global North and the Global South.