Influence of political tensions on scientific productivity, citation impact, and knowledge combinations

Over the past decades, international scientific collaborations have thrived as a vital avenue for generating new knowledge and advancing scientific breakthroughs. However, recent political tensions between the United States and China have raised concerns about potential ramifications on scientific productivity and innovation. While existing research highlighted the adverse effects of these tensions on scientific collaborations, limited attention focused on knowledge combinations. Drawing upon large-scale bibliometric datasets, we conduct a systematic study to examine the effects of the “China Initiative” on Chinese scientists’ productivity, citation impact, and knowledge combinations at the individual level. Firstly, we find the “China Initiative” has shown detrimental effects on scientific productivity and citation impact of Chinese scientists collaborating with U.S. scientists. Moreover, scientists from prestigious Chinese institutions and those with dual affiliations from both countries experienced greater negative impacts from the “China Initiative”. Furthermore, we explore knowledge combination patterns and find that Chinese scientists who collaborated with US scientists published less novel and interdisciplinary papers after the “China Initiative”. Interestingly, we observe a shift in collaborative behaviors, with an increase in the quantity and citations of domestic papers and collaborative papers with countries other than the United States. By shedding light on the influence of the “China Initiative”, our study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between political dynamics and scientific progress, highlighting the importance of an open academic environment in an era of geopolitical challenges.