Which Research Fields Get Better Faster? Measuring the Evolution of International Research Collaboration

Abstract

A fundamental problem in the field of the economics of science is how to accurately measure the evolution of collaboration patterns across different scientific fields. This study confronts the problem by employing a model of morphological changes in order to measure and evaluate the relative growth of international scientific collaboration in comparison with domestic collaboration. Empirical evidence, based on co-authored articles from 1997–2012, shows an acceleration of international research collaboration in medical sciences, social sciences, and some specific applied sciences, including geosciences, agricultural sciences, and psychology. These research fields have benefited from a disproportionate relative growth of international co-authored articles in comparison to collaborations with domestic institutions only. By contrast, some theoretical sciences, including physics and mathematics, have lower relative growth in international collaborations). This evolution of scientific fields is analyzed to explain some possible determinants of the ongoing social dynamics of science that support the pervasive plexus (interwoven combination of parts in a system) and development of modern science in society. Moreover, this new approach here can predict which research fields are likeliest to advance rapidly and which are likely to develop more slowly. Knowing this can help policy makers make better investment decisions between different scientific fields to support the progress of science and technology.

Keywords: Research Collaboration, Relative Growth, Scientometrics, Co-authorship, Research Fields, Scientific Fields, Evolution of Science

JEL Classification: C00, I23