The dissemination of task and socioemotional information in an international community of scientists

This study concerns the dissemination of task and socioemotional information among a sample of 977 theoretical high energy physicists working in thirty‐five countries. The impact of geopolitical boundaries on the flow of information between discussion partners and on the acknowledgment of information pioneers is analyzed. While three general geopolitical subs‐systems are discernable in the sample, the general finding is that task and socioemotional information flowed relatively freely across geopolitical boundaries. The flow of task related information is selected for greater depth of analysis and the investigation proceeds to focus on the diffusion of research specialties (regarded as innovations) in the international scientific community. Adoption and diffusion curves for each specialty were obtained and diffusion gaps between the United States, Europe, and Japan are noted. Research specialties tended to flow faster from Japan to the United States and Europe than vice versa and faster from the United States to Europe than from Europe to the United States.