Spatial and non-spatial proximity drivers of scientific collaborations in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Proximity influences scientific collaborations in many ways. This paper examines the effects of proximity, such as geographical, social, institutional, organizational, and cognitive proximity, on the scientific production of pairs of Brazilian researchers. Based on rich data on scientific collaboration at the individual level, we apply the Zero Inflated Negative Binomial model to assess the drivers of the researchers’ scientific production from 2009 to 2017. The main results show that the scientific productivity of the pairs of researchers is positively associated with belonging to the same public research institution or the same organization, having previous and continuous collaborative relationships, having a high degree of centrality, living in the same state, and working in the same scientific field.