IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v125y2020i2d10.1007_s11192-020-03595-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An in-depth analysis of government funding and international collaboration in scientific research

Author

Listed:
  • Ping Zhou

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Xiaojing Cai

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Xiaozan Lyu

    (Zhejiang University
    Leiden University)

Abstract

Based on publications indexed in the Web of Science, the current study focused on internationally collaborated publications and publications acknowledging government funding of developing and developed countries including China, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Brazil. Specific focus is placed on national funding agencies (i.e., focal agencies) supporting competitive research in science. The focal agencies of the six countries include the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), German Research Foundation, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil (CNPq). Results show that different countries vary in arrangement of government funding sources in support of competitive research projects. China and Brazil are centralized to the NSFC and CNPq, whereas the remaining four countries have relatively decentralized sources. The six focal national funding agencies of the current study are more efficient than non-focal agencies in raising citation impact, with the NWO, NSF, and NSFC perform better than non-focal agencies of corresponding countries. International collaboration improves citation impact, with the developing countries benefit more. Authorship (first or corresponding authorship) also plays a role in international collaboration. Collaboration led by authors from developed countries has a positive effect whereas that led by authors from developing countries usually have negative effects on citation impact. Interaction between funding and collaboration may have results different from those when these two factors are considered separately, which suggests being cautious while discussing effects of either of the two factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Ping Zhou & Xiaojing Cai & Xiaozan Lyu, 2020. "An in-depth analysis of government funding and international collaboration in scientific research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1331-1347, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:125:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03595-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03595-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-020-03595-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-020-03595-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guan, Jiancheng & Yan, Yan & Zhang, Jing Jing, 2017. "The impact of collaboration and knowledge networks on citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 407-422.
    2. Loet Leydesdorff & Lutz Bornmann & Caroline S. Wagner, 2019. "The Relative Influences of Government Funding and International Collaboration on Citation Impact," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 70(2), pages 198-201, February.
    3. Vicente P. Guerrero Bote & Carlos Olmeda‐Gómez & Félix de Moya‐Anegón, 2013. "Quantifying the benefits of international scientific collaboration," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(2), pages 392-404, February.
    4. Jonathan Adams, 2012. "The rise of research networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 490(7420), pages 335-336, October.
    5. Ubfal, Diego & Maffioli, Alessandro, 2010. "The Impact of Funding on Research Collaboration: Evidence from Argentina," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 2663, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Cimini, Giulio & Zaccaria, Andrea & Gabrielli, Andrea, 2016. "Investigating the interplay between fundamentals of national research systems: Performance, investments and international collaborations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 200-211.
    7. Vicente P. Guerrero Bote & Carlos Olmeda-Gómez & Félix Moya-Anegón, 2013. "Quantifying the benefits of international scientific collaboration," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(2), pages 392-404, February.
    8. Bárbara S. Lancho-Barrantes & Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote & Félix Moya-Anegón, 2013. "Citation increments between collaborating countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(3), pages 817-831, March.
    9. Ping Zhou & Huibao Tian, 2014. "Funded collaboration research in mathematics in China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 695-715, June.
    10. Barry Bozeman & Daniel Fay & Catherine Slade, 2013. "Research collaboration in universities and academic entrepreneurship: the-state-of-the-art," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 1-67, February.
    11. Sujin Choi & Joshua SungWoo Yang & Han Woo Park, 2015. "The triple helix and international collaboration in science," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(1), pages 201-212, January.
    12. Erjia Yan & Chaojiang Wu & Min Song, 2018. "The funding factor: a cross-disciplinary examination of the association between research funding and citation impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 369-384, April.
    13. Pardeep Sud & Mike Thelwall, 2016. "Not all international collaboration is beneficial: The Mendeley readership and citation impact of biochemical research collaboration," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(8), pages 1849-1857, August.
    14. de Moya-Anegon, Felix & Guerrero-Bote, Vicente P. & Lopez-Illescas, Carmen & Moed, Henk F., 2018. "Statistical relationships between corresponding authorship, international co-authorship and citation impact of national research systems," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1251-1262.
    15. Sandström, Ulf & Van den Besselaar, Peter, 2018. "Funding, evaluation, and the performance of national research systems," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 365-384.
    16. Leydesdorff, Loet & Wagner, Caroline S., 2008. "International collaboration in science and the formation of a core group," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 317-325.
    17. Chen, Kaihua & Zhang, Yi & Fu, Xiaolan, 2019. "International research collaboration: An emerging domain of innovation studies?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 149-168.
    18. Ping Zhou & Yongfeng Zhong & Meigen Yu, 2013. "A bibliometric investigation on China–UK collaboration in food and agriculture," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(2), pages 267-285, November.
    19. Corredoira, Rafael A. & Goldfarb, Brent D. & Shi, Yuan, 2018. "Federal funding and the rate and direction of inventive activity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1777-1800.
    20. Leydesdorff, Loet & Wagner, Caroline S. & Bornmann, Lutz, 2019. "Interdisciplinarity as diversity in citation patterns among journals: Rao-Stirling diversity, relative variety, and the Gini coefficient," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 255-269.
    21. Bozeman, Barry & Corley, Elizabeth, 2004. "Scientists' collaboration strategies: implications for scientific and technical human capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 599-616, May.
    22. Lili Wang & Xianwen Wang & Niels J. Philipsen, 2017. "Network structure of scientific collaborations between China and the EU member states," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 765-781, November.
    23. Ubfal, Diego & Maffioli, Alessandro, 2011. "The impact of funding on research collaboration: Evidence from a developing country," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1269-1279.
    24. Caroline S. Wagner, 2018. "The Collaborative Era in Science," Palgrave Advances in Economics of Innovation and Technology, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-319-94986-4, December.
    25. Félix Moya-Anegón & Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote & Lutz Bornmann & Henk F. Moed, 2013. "The research guarantors of scientific papers and the output counting: a promising new approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(2), pages 421-434, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hu, Guangyuan & Ni, Rong & Tang, Li, 2022. "Do international nonstop flights foster influential research? Evidence from Sino-US scientific collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).
    2. Adriana Bin & Sergio Salles-Filho & Ana Carolina Spatti & Jesús Pascual Mena-Chalco & Fernando Antonio Basile Colugnati, 2022. "How much does a Ph.D. scholarship program impact an emerging economy research performance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 6935-6960, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Graf, Holger & Kalthaus, Martin, 2018. "International research networks: Determinants of country embeddedness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7), pages 1198-1214.
    2. Cheng Zhe & Xingfu Lu & Xiong Xiong, 2021. "Analysis of Influence Factors on the Quality of International Collaboration Research in the Field of Social Sciences and Humanities: The Case of Chinese World Class Universities (2015–2019)," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    3. Candelaria Barrios & Esther Flores & M. Ángeles Martínez & Marta Ruiz-Martínez, 2019. "Is there convergence in international research collaboration? An exploration at the country level in the basic and applied science fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(2), pages 631-659, August.
    4. Belén Álvarez-Bornstein & Adrián A. Díaz-Faes & María Bordons, 2019. "What characterises funded biomedical research? Evidence from a basic and a clinical domain," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(2), pages 805-825, May.
    5. A. Velez-Estevez & P. García-Sánchez & J. A. Moral-Munoz & M. J. Cobo, 2022. "Why do papers from international collaborations get more citations? A bibliometric analysis of Library and Information Science papers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7517-7555, December.
    6. Jyoti Dua & Hiran H. Lathabai & Vivek Kumar Singh, 2023. "Measuring and characterizing research collaboration in SAARC countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(2), pages 1265-1294, February.
    7. Daniele Rotolo & Michael Hopkins & Nicola Grassano, 2023. "Do funding sources complement or substitute? Examining the impact of cancer research publications," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(1), pages 50-66, January.
    8. Elizabeth S. Vieira, 2022. "International research collaboration in Africa: a bibliometric and thematic analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(5), pages 2747-2772, May.
    9. Chen, Kaihua & Zhang, Yi & Fu, Xiaolan, 2019. "International research collaboration: An emerging domain of innovation studies?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 149-168.
    10. Li, Feng & Miao, Yajun & Yang, Chenchen, 2015. "How do alumni faculty behave in research collaboration? An analysis of Chang Jiang Scholars in China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 438-450.
    11. Álvarez-Bornstein, Belén & Bordons, María, 2021. "Is funding related to higher research impact? Exploring its relationship and the mediating role of collaboration in several disciplines," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    12. Maki Kato & Asao Ando, 2013. "The relationship between research performance and international collaboration in chemistry," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(3), pages 535-553, December.
    13. Zhou Mo & Zhang Yujie & Lei Jiasu & Tan Xiaowen, 2022. "Early firm engagement, government research funding, and the privatization of public knowledge," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4797-4826, August.
    14. Mario Coccia & Barry Bozeman, 2016. "Allometric models to measure and analyze the evolution of international research collaboration," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1065-1084, September.
    15. Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez & Cassidy R Sugimoto & Vincent Larivière, 2019. "Follow the leader: On the relationship between leadership and scholarly impact in international collaborations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, June.
    16. Lili Wang & Xianwen Wang & Niels J. Philipsen, 2017. "Network structure of scientific collaborations between China and the EU member states," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 765-781, November.
    17. Bornmann, Lutz & Stefaner, Moritz & de Moya Anegón, Felix & Mutz, Rüdiger, 2016. "Excellence networks in science: A Web-based application based on Bayesian multilevel logistic regression (BMLR) for the identification of institutions collaborating successfully," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 312-327.
    18. Mike Thelwall & Kayvan Kousha & Mahshid Abdoli & Emma Stuart & Meiko Makita & Paul Wilson & Jonathan Levitt, 2023. "Why are coauthored academic articles more cited: Higher quality or larger audience?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(7), pages 791-810, July.
    19. Tokmachev, Andrey M., 2023. "Regular collective dynamics of research collaboration," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 610(C).
    20. Hongquan Shen & Juan Xie & Jiang Li & Ying Cheng, 2021. "The correlation between scientific collaboration and citation count at the paper level: a meta-analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3443-3470, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:125:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03595-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.