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Knowledge spillovers: Does the geographic proximity effect decay over time? A discipline-level analysis, accounting for cognitive proximity, with and without self-citations

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  • Abramo, Giovanni
  • D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea
  • Di Costa, Flavia

Abstract

This work analyzes the variation over time of the effect of geographic distance on knowledge flows. The flows are measured through the citations exchanged between scientific publications, including and excluding self-citations. To calculate geographic distances between citing and cited publication, each publication is associated with a “prevailing” territory, according to the authors’ affiliations. We then apply a gravity model to account for the research size of the territories, in terms of cognitive proximity of citing-cited publications. The field of observation is the 2010–2017 world publications citing the 2010–2012 Italian publications, as indexed in the Web of Science. The results show that in domestic knowledge flows, geographic proximity remains an influential factor through time, although with differences among disciplines and trends of attenuating effects. Finally, we replicate the analyses of knowledge flows but with the exclusion of self-citations: in this manner the effect of geographic proximity seems reduced, particularly at the national scale, but the differences (with vs without self-citations) lessen through time. As shown in previous works, the effect of distance on continental flows is modest (imperceptible for intercontinental flows), yet here too time has some influence, including concerning exclusion of self-citations.

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  • Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2020. "Knowledge spillovers: Does the geographic proximity effect decay over time? A discipline-level analysis, accounting for cognitive proximity, with and without self-citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:14:y:2020:i:4:s175115772030095x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2020.101072
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    2. Abdelghani Maddi & Lesya Baudoin, 2022. "The quality of the web of science data: a longitudinal study on the completeness of authors-addresses links," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6279-6292, November.
    3. Shahzad, Murtuza & Alhoori, Hamed & Freedman, Reva & Rahman, Shaikh Abdul, 2022. "Quantifying the online long-term interest in research," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    4. Yoon, Jisung & Park, Jinseo & Yun, Jinhyuk & Jung, Woo-Sung, 2023. "Quantifying knowledge synchronization with the network-driven approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4).
    5. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2021. "On the relation between the degree of internationalization of cited and citing publications: A field level analysis, including and excluding self-citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    6. Dalten Fox & Luke Fowler, 2024. "Does sticking close to home make for better research? In‐state authorship and citation rates in public administration journals," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 105(2), pages 327-341, March.
    7. Hou, Lei & Pan, Yueling & Zhu, Jonathan J.H., 2021. "Impact of scientific, economic, geopolitical, and cultural factors on international research collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    8. Lei Hou & Jiashan Luo & Xue Pan, 2022. "Research Topic Specialization of Universities in Information Science and Library Science and Its Impact on Inter-University Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, July.
    9. Giovanni Abramo & Francesca Apponi & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo, 2022. "The geographic proximity effect on domestic cross-sector vis-a-vis intra-sector research collaborations," Papers 2202.10347, arXiv.org.
    10. Giovanni Abramo & Francesca Apponi & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2022. "The geographic proximity effect on domestic cross-sector vis-à-vis intra-sector research collaborations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3505-3521, June.

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