Mobile Scientists Research Articles

The Immigration Advantage in the U.S.-China Strategic Contest for STEM Talent

executive summary: This essay argues that recruitment of globally mobile scientists, researchers, and inventors gives the U.S. an advantage in great-power competition with China, but one the U.S. risks squandering. main argument The U.S. has a powerful asymmetric advantage over the People's Republic of China in advancing its global technological leadership: the ability to draw on the top talent from around the world. The recruitment of international talent in STEM fields is a major force multiplier for U.S. scientific and technological enterprises, especially in critical and emerging technologies and defense-related industries. Attracting top international talent is not a tool that China can easily replicate. For all its efforts to lure its own émigrés back and attract international students, China is still a net emigration country, while the U.S. is the top destination for immigrants, especially scientists and inventors. However, the deteriorating conditions of legal pathways to immigration for high-skilled STEM experts threaten to undermine this strategic advantage. policy implications • The U.S. is becoming less attractive for globally mobile international talent over time, largely due to the onerous and worsening conditions facing legal immigrants. Most notably, there is a mismatch between the number of people allowed to apply and receive permanent residence each year, leading to untenably long—and growing—backlogs and associated wait times. • The U.S. could increase its innovative output by expanding the quantity and improving the quality of international STEM researchers welcomed to the country. It could do so through changes in laws and regulations or merely by better recruiting and retaining talent through increased uptake of existing programs. It could also achieve greater contributions from talent it already has recruited by removing visa barriers restricting innovation-generating activities. • Efforts by the Chinese government to transfer technologies illicitly through espionage pose a serious risk. This risk needs to be managed with care to protect sensitive information without setting back U.S. technological development.

International mobility characteristics, effects of, and effects on elite scientists

Understanding the international flows of elite scientists is critical to science and talent policies. In this study, using the Scopus data of 78,815 top h-index scientists between 1921 and 2020, we investigate the characteristics of the international mobility of elite scientists, including geographic features, mobility types, and disciplinary characteristics. Our results reveal an increasing number of countries participating in international mobility over the past 2 decades, with North America and some Western European countries still serving as centers. Emerging economies have also become important mobility hubs in recent decades. Mobile scientists who have returned to their home countries have become the dominant mobility type, mainly in the form of short-term mobility. The disciplines of physics and astronomy and engineering have larger shares of mobile scientists than other disciplines, and the average flow frequency of elites varies among 26 observed disciplines. We use a difference-in-differences model to analyze how global mobility affects the individual productivity of elite scientists by distinguishing flow paths. The results indicate that international mobility improves the research performance of elite scientists who move to more scientifically advanced countries and that research quality is most positively impacted when elite scientists move to the United States or move from China.

Learning-by-hiring: How do rival firms learn from focal firm's hiring

Previous studies provide evidence of learning from the mobility of scientists for the source and the hiring firms. However, we have a limited understanding of the competitive implications of such inter-firm mobility and associated learnings. Using a difference–in–difference approach on matched patents in the semiconductor industry in 1981–2010, we find that mobile scientists' patents receive more citations from rival firms after the mobility vis-à-vis before the mobility and vis-à-vis other similar patents. We conclude that rival firms respond to mobilities across other firms by attributing more attention to mobile scientists. Furthermore, the context of the mobility can determine the extent of response from rival firms. Rival firms are more likely to build on a mobile scientist's patents after mobility when the mobility occurs between technologically distant firms, the source firm or the hiring firm has low research experience, or the mobile scientist has considerable experience.

Internationally mobile scientists as knowledge transmitters: A lexical‐based approach to detect knowledge transfer

AbstractThis paper explores the knowledge transfer of internationally mobile scientists. It builds upon previous work on the development of methods for detecting the knowledge transfer of German scientists. Using abstract terms of publications covered in Scopus, this paper proposes a lexical‐based approach to identify knowledge transmitters. These scientists are characterized by acquiring knowledge from their co‐workers during their international stay and transferring it upon return to German co‐workers. Knowledge is operationalized as the co‐occurrence of rarely used abstract terms. Knowledge transfer is expressed as the diffusion of these term combinations in co‐authorship networks. The method developed was validated by contacting the bibliometrically identified knowledge transmitters and asking them what they believe they learned during their stay abroad. A control group of internationally mobile scientists without traceable knowledge transfer was similarly asked to report on their knowledge acquisition. The findings suggest that bibliometric data are capable of detecting knowledge transmitters among German scientists who were internationally mobile. The juxtaposition of the responses on their perceived knowledge acquisition and the bibliometrically identified lexical terms shows that the method proposed is well suited to studying the knowledge transfer of internationally mobile scientists. The strength of the method is its simplicity and high precision.

Scientific Mobility, Training and Entrepreneurial Skills in Health Sciences: The Spanish Case

The activity of scientists promotes medical research in health services. However, on many occasions, these professionals do not know how to transfer their research results to the market. Therefore, it is worth providing data on aspects such as training in entrepreneurship and scientific mobility to foster knowledge transfer. This paper discusses data on the Spanish case in Health Sciences to devise effective policies in these areas. To this end, following the methodology of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report and the existing scientific literature, 291 researchers involved in scientific mobility in Spain have been interviewed. Of these, 90 belonged to health areas: Spanish scientists abroad (37), Scientists returned to Spain (16), and Young researchers in Spain (37). The results show that the mobile scientists in this area have more entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial intentions, have acquired more entrepreneurial skills, and have received more training in these subjects. Furthermore, there are few permanent positions for all these groups whose mobility decisions fundamentally depend on job opportunities, so the health authorities can intensify these measures to promote knowledge transfer.

Recent Trends in Morphology-Controlled Synthesis and Application of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles.

The outstanding journey towards the investigation of mesoporous materials commences with the discovery of high surface area porous silica materials, named MCM-41 (Mobil Composition of Matter-41) according to the inventors’ name Mobile scientists in the United States. Based on a self-assembled supramolecular templating mechanism, the synthesis of mesoporous silica has extended to wide varieties of silica categories along with versatile applications of all these types in many fields. These silica families have some extraordinary structural features, like highly tunable nanoscale sized pore diameter, good Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas, good flexibility to accommodate different organic and inorganic functional groups, metals etc., onto their surface. As a consequence, thousands of scientists and researchers throughout the world have reported numerous silica materials in the form of published articles, communication, reviews, etc. Beside this, attention is also given to the morphology-oriented synthesis of silica nanoparticles and their significant effects on the emerging fields of study like catalysis, energy applications, sensing, environmental, and biomedical research. This review highlights a consolidated overview of those morphology-based mesoporous silica particles, emphasizing their syntheses and potential role in many promising fields of research.

Suspicious death – trace evidence identified the complainant as accused: A real crime scene report

Unnatural death incidents are reported to police wherein the dead body appearance confuses the first officer in the crime scenes. Generally, the forensic medicine experts are not involved in crime scene visit, but waiting for the body at the autopsy room. Anyhow, the forensic crime scene investigators or mobile forensic scientists have an active part in the examination of the crime scene and the body under suspicious condition. Through keen crime scene observation, they may able to link the physical evidence in the scene with the dead body in the suspicious death cases and solve the mystery. In the present suspicious death case study, a woman was found hanged in her residence under suspicious condition. The complainant husband alleged that his wife committed suicide by hanging while he was away from home. The examination of physical evidence and the dead body in the crime scene indicated it as a homicidal hanging rather than suicidal hanging as alleged by husband. This fact was confirmed by the forensic medicine expert in the autopsy examination.

Stress Reliever – A Social Responsibility of Mobile Phone Software Engineers and Businessmen

In this paper, we have proposed to the mobile scientists about a social responsibility to take care about the health of the users by designing a computer-based mobile game so that it could behave intelligently and interactively for stress relieving and health care rather than the traditional leisure. Our study explores the efficacy of intelligent games to keep the interest of a user in computer and mobile usage that helps in the reduction of stress. This review paper highlights the need of social responsibility during the process of App development for mobile phone users.

A new bibliometric approach to measure knowledge transfer of internationally mobile scientists

This study introduces a new bibliometric approach to study the effects of international scientific mobility on knowledge transfer. It is based on an analysis of internationally mobile and non-internationally mobile German scientists publishing in journals that are indexed in Scopus. Using bibliometric data such co-authored articles, references and lexical abstract terms from the Scopus database, a method is presented that is based on cosine similarity to measure the similarity of the knowledge base of authors and their co-authors. This quantifiable method is capable of revealing potential knowledge transfer between internationally mobile scientists and different types of co-authors. In addition, the Shannon index is used as a diversity measure to analyse the knowledge base of scientists. Analyses are presented for an overall 9-year publication period (2007–2015), split into a pre-mobility phase, a mobility phase and a post-mobility phase, each of which lasts for 3 years. Internationally mobile scientists are compared with non-internationally mobile scientists and the potentials and limitations of the method presented are discussed. It is concluded that the bibliometric approach proposed is useful when applied on a large scale. International mobility proves to benefit the exchange of knowledge between scientists and various types of co-authors.

Scientific mobility indicators in practice: International mobility profiles at the country level

This paper presents and describes the methodological opportunities offered by bibliometric data to produce indicators of scientific mobility. Large bibliographic datasets of disambiguated authors and their affiliations allow for the possibility of tracking the affiliation changes of scientists. Using the Web of Science as data source, we analyze the distribution of types of mobile scientists for a selection of countries. We explore the possibility of creating profiles of international mobility at the country level, and discuss potential interpretations and caveats. Five countries (Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the United States) are used as examples. These profiles enable us to characterize these countries in terms of their strongest links with other countries. This type of analysis reveals circulation among and between countries with strong policy implications.

The globalisation of scientific mobility, 1970–2014

This article provides an empirical assessment of global scientific mobility over the past four decades, based on bibliometric data. We find (i) an increasing diversity of origin and destination countries integrated in global scientific mobility, with (ii) the centre of gravity of scientific knowledge production and migration destinations moving continuously eastwards by about 1300 km per decade, (iii) an increase in average migration distances of scientists reflecting integration of global peripheries into the global science system, (iv) significantly lower mobility frictions for internationally mobile scientists compared to non-scientist migrants, (v) with visa restrictions establishing a statistically significant barrier affecting international mobility of scientists hampering the global diffusion of scientific knowledge.

Interfirm Ties through Scientist Mobility: Implications for R&D Partner Selection

In this paper we extend the theory of information economics to the literature on R&D alliance formation and advance research by examining the role of scientist mobility in facilitating partner selection for R&D collaborations. Specifically, we examine the role of scientist mobility in reducing information asymmetries between R&D firms, and we develop hypotheses on how R&D firms select alliance partners within high-tech industries. Mobile scientists can act as information intermediaries and facilitate information sharing between their current and prior employers. We suggest that the information intermediated by mobility of scientists between two potential partners privately and directly reduces information asymmetries between them, thereby helping firms access opportunities for collaboration. We demonstrate that scientist mobility will have a more pronounced effect on the likelihood that firms enter into an R&D partnership when firms lack direct knowledge about each other’s technological and other resources.

Between double absence and transnational professional – the unrevealed side of scientific mobility

The paper concerns the situation of the majority of mobile scientists working in the international prestigious research laboratories in 21st century. I point out the lag between official communication about open access and democratic and fair selections which occur in scientific careers all the time and unspoken issues related with ethnical and national discrimination in the workplaces. The problem of ethnical discrimination is omitted in the sociological literature issue however, the ethnographic data provided from scientific laboratories indicates that the ethnicity and origin (as well as the nationality of scientist) play an important role. I employ in this paper the Abdelmalek Sayad’s concept of “double absence”, showing that the situation of “foreigner” scientists (majority of the PhD students and post-docs working abroad) is similar to other categories of migrants.

A situated analysis of global knowledge networks: capital accumulation strategies of transnationally mobile scientists in Singapore

This paper investigates the geographic and professional mobility of scientists employed in Singapore’s publicly funded research institutes in various techno-and lifescience specialisations. Using Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, we analyse the capital portfolios of individual scientists against the structures of power which have informed Singapore’s developmental history, the culture of its westernised political elite and its present day aspirations to become a knowledge-based economy. Using survey and interview data, we examine how individual scientists mobilize their portfolios of social and cultural capital in order to extract maximum value from the transnational field of research and development. These processes of mobilization require individuals to negotiate alignments between their habitus and the political-cultural field in Singapore. This empirical grounding enables us to offer some preliminary ideas about transformations to the scientific habitus.

The Impact of Long-term Scientific Mobility on the Creation of Persistent Knowledge Networks

This paper investigates the impact of long-term international scientific mobility – associated with advanced training or research positions – on knowledge network formation and network persistence In particular, it investigates whether and in which conditions relationships established during extended periods of co-location in one organisation play a relevant role in the subsequent knowledge exchange activities of the mobile scientists. Empirical research on the case of Portuguese scientists in three different fields provides evidence on the relevance and persistence of the networks established in those conditions and identifies some factors that increase the likelihood of these effects taking place.

Hierarchies and categorical power in cross-border science: analysing scientists’ transnational mobility between Ukraine and Germany

Using the results of qualitative research in Germany and Ukraine, the article provides evidence to how the short-term and circular geographic mobility of Ukrainian natural scientists between Ukraine and Germany contributes to the formation of a cross-border scientific field. Combining Bourdieu’s field theory with the transnational field approach and the intersectional perspective, the article indicates how unequal access to scientific reputation is structured across borders. In sum, the complex interplay of ethnicity-, class- and gender-related categorizations pushes mobile scientists to define themselves as an exploited elite. At the same time, female mobile scientists are identified as having the most disadvantaged positions in the transnational academic hierarchy.

The Motivations of Scientists as Drivers of International Mobility Decisions

Recent research has explored the influence of the motivations and preferences of scientists (their ‘taste for science’, or preference for basic research, independence, publishing and peer recognition) on career decisions such as selection in industry versus academia. This paper continues this stream of research by examining the role played by the motivations of academic scientists in the international mobility decision. We hypothesize that the motivations of scientists affect the outcome of the international mobility decision since they determine the impact of the incentives for moving faced by the scientist. We test this hypothesis with a sample of Belgian academic scientists in all academic fields using the Belgian Career of Doctorate Holders survey. We find that those who are motivated by a desire for independent research are more likely to leave Belgium, and those who are motivated by salary are less likely to do so. More generally, we find a positive relationship between a higher taste for science and international mobility. However, these effects are not present in the social sciences and humanities. While motivations appear to play a role in the outcome of the scientist’s migration decision, descriptive analyses indicate that they have less impact on the behavior of mobile scientists, as we observe little correlation between the motivations of mobile scientists and the reason for leaving Belgium or their destination. This version: January 2012

Unraveling the Role of Public Researcher Mobility for Industrial Innovation

We estimate the relative contribution of mobile scientists who leave academia for the private sector on the subsequent innovative performance of the firms they join. We use data on the population of Danish firms and their R&D workers for the period 1999-2004 and measure innovation performance by the (value-adjusted) number of patent applications at the European Patent Office. We compare the efficacy of mobile former university scientists to the effects of mobile workers hired from other firms as well as immobile workers on the innovation performance of their employer. Our main result is that mobile university scientists contribute substantially more to innovation than R&D workers hired from other firms who, in turn, contribute slightly less to industrial innovation than recent university graduates. By contrast, immobile workers add little to the innovative activity of their employer. We also find that the contribution of mobile R&D workers to innovation depreciates fairly rapidly. These findings provide us with three main managerial implications: Firstly, hiring scientists from universities is a way of boosting a firm's innovative activity. Secondly, because hires from academia receive lower wages on average than hires from private sector firms, this implies that hiring R&D workers from academia may be a cost-effective way of improving innovation performance. Thirdly, firms need to take measures in order to further public-private researcher interaction to prevent the depreciation of the knowledge stock of their employees.

Going abroad to do science

This paper addresses the issue of scientific mobility from the standpoint of a departure country, Portugal. The analysis is focused on the conditions and motivations for leaving the home country, the choices made regarding host countries and institutions and the constraints and opportunities that bear weight on the decision to return. Mobility decisions are examined in light of the interplay between structural conditions (the global and national science and technology systems), career paths and personal choices. Differences in attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of mobile scientists by gender, age, year of migration, career status and scientific disciplines are taken into consideration. This research is mainly based on a survey of Portuguese researchers abroad.

International collaboration, mobility and team diversity in the life sciences: impact on research performance

The combination of knowledge and skills from different backgrounds or research cultures is often consid- ered good for science. This paper describes the extent to which academic research teams in the life sciences draw on knowledge from different research cultures and how this is related to their research performance. We distinguish be- tween international collaboration of research teams from dif- ferent countries and cultural diversity of research teams re- sulting from team members with different countries of ori- gin. Our results show that the most successful teams have a moderate level of cultural diversity; in addition, success- ful teams engage in collaboration activities with teams from other European countries and the US leading to joint pub- lications. These results have implications for research team management and for research policy, in particular in relation to supporting measures for mobile scientists.