Which distance dimensions matter in international research collaboration? A cross-country analysis by scientifific domain

Elizabeth S. Vieiraa,b,∗, Jorge Cerdeirac,d,e, Aurora A.C. Teixeira

The relevance of international research collaboration (IRC) in bolstering intellectual capital, increasing embeddedness in networks, and promoting innovation has been acknowledged by scientists and policymakers. However, large–scale studies involving different scientific domains and periods aimed at exploring the factors that influence IRC are missing, which could deepen our understanding of the factors affecting IRC.
Based on a novel dataset of 193 countries over three periods, 1990–1999, 2000–2009 and 2010–2018, we have examined the impact of geographical, socioeconomic, political, cultural, intellectual, and excellence distances on the propensity to engage in IRC at the global level, by scientific domain and over time.
In general, all the distances considered obstruct IRC, with geographical and cultural distance emerging as the barriers with the highest impact. Two exceptions are worthwhile noting: excellence distance fosters IRC in the Medical & Health Sciences (MHS) and intellectual distance fosters IRC in the Agricultural Sciences (AS).
At the global level, the negative impact of socioeconomic, political, and intellectual distances on IRC has increased over time, whereas the negative impact of geographical and cultural distances has decreased.

      国际研究合作 (IRC) 在支持智力资本、增加网络嵌入和促进创新方面的相关性已得到科学家和政策制定者的认可。然而，旨在探索影响 IRC 的因素的涉及不同科学领域和时期的大规模研究缺失，这可能加深我们对影响 IRC 的因素的理解。

      基于 193 个国家在 1990-1999、2000-2009 和 2010-2018 三个时期的新数据集，我们研究了地理、社会经济、政治、文化、知识和卓越距离对参与 IRC 倾向的影响在全球范围内，按科学领域和随着时间的推移。

      一般来说，所有考虑的距离都会阻碍 IRC，地理和文化距离成为影响最大的障碍。有两个例外值得注意：卓越距离促进了医学与健康科学 (MHS) 中的 IRC，知识距离促进了农业科学 (AS) 中的 IRC。 在全球范围内，社会经济、政治和知识距离对 IRC 的负面影响随着时间的推移而增加，而地理和文化距离的负面影响则减少了。

Esva B ,  Jccd E , Aurora A.C. Teixeira f g h. Which distance dimensions matter in international research collaboration? A cross-country analysis by scientific domain[J].Journal of Informetrics.2022,16(2)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2022.101259