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Collaborating With People Like Me: Ethnic co-authorship within the US

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  • Richard B. Freeman
  • Wei Huang

Abstract

This study examines the ethnic identity of authors in over 2.5 million scientific papers written by US-based authors from 1985 to 2008, a period in which the frequency of English and European names among authors fell relative to the frequency of names from China and other developing countries. We find that persons of similar ethnicity co-author together more frequently than predicted by their proportion among authors. Using a measure of homophily for individual papers, we find that greater homophily is associated with publication in lower impact journals and with fewer citations, even holding fixed the authors' previous publishing performance. By contrast, papers with authors in more locations and with longer reference lists get published in higher impact journals and receive more citations than others. These findings suggest that diversity in inputs by author ethnicity, location, and references leads to greater contributions to science as measured by impact factors and citations.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard B. Freeman & Wei Huang, 2014. "Collaborating With People Like Me: Ethnic co-authorship within the US," NBER Working Papers 19905, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19905
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    Cited by:

    1. Cimenler, Oguz & Reeves, Kingsley A. & Skvoretz, John, 2015. "An evaluation of collaborative research in a college of engineering," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 577-590.
    2. Mohammadi, Ali & Broström, Anders & Franzoni, Chiara, 2015. "Work Force Composition and Innovation: How Diversity in Employees’ Ethnical and Disciplinary Backgrounds Facilitates Knowledge Re-combination," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 413, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    3. Michael L. Lahr, 2014. "Square Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 44(2), pages 111-123, Summer.
    4. Celis, Sergio & Kim, Jeongeun, 2018. "The making of homophilic networks in international research collaborations: A global perspective from Chilean and Korean engineering," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 573-582.
    5. Jonathan Bendor & Scott E. Page, 2019. "Optimal team composition for tool‐based problem solving," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 734-764, November.
    6. Hamermesh, Daniel S., 2015. "Age, Cohort and Co-Authorship," IZA Discussion Papers 8828, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. George J. Borjas & Kirk B. Doran, 2015. "How High-Skill Immigration Affects Science: Evidence from the Collapse of the USSR," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25.
    8. Gradstein, Mark & Justman, Moshe, 2018. "Diversity and Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 11553, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Bengtsson, Ola & Hsu, David H., 2015. "Ethnic matching in the U.S. venture capital market," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 338-354.
    10. Besancenot, Damien & Huynh, Kim & Serranito, Francisco, 2017. "Co-authorship and research productivity in economics: Assessing the assortative matching hypothesis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 61-80.
    11. Naci H. Mocan & Christian Raschke, 2014. "Economic Well-being and Anti-Semitic, Xenophobic, and Racist Attitudes in Germany," NBER Working Papers 20059, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. David Ong & Ho Fai Chan & Benno Torgler & Yu (Alan) Yang, 2015. "Endogenous selection into single and coauthorships by surname initials in economics and management," CREMA Working Paper Series 2015-01, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    13. Diego Kozlowski & Dakota S Murray & Alexis Bell & Will Hulsey & Vincent Larivière & Thema Monroe-White & Cassidy R Sugimoto, 2022. "Avoiding bias when inferring race using name-based approaches," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-16, March.
    14. Michele Pezzoni & Jacques Mairesse & Paula Stephan & Julia Lane, 2016. "Gender and the Publication Output of Graduate Students: A Case Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, January.
    15. Naci Mocan & Christian Raschke, 2016. "Economic well-being and anti-Semitic, xenophobic, and racist attitudes in Germany," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 1-63, February.
    16. Kam C. Chan & Anna Fung & Hung‐Gay Fung & Jot Yau, 2020. "Coauthorship in academic journals: Implications for international collaboration and alliances," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(7), pages 1162-1173, October.
    17. Richard B. Freeman, 2015. "Immigration, International Collaboration, and Innovation: Science and Technology Policy in the Global Economy," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 153-175.
    18. Sameer Kumar & Kuru Ratnavelu, 2016. "Perceptions of Scholars in the Field of Economics on Co-Authorship Associations: Evidence from an International Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Kam C. Chan & Anna Fung & Hung-Gay Fung & Jot Yau, 2016. "A Citation Analysis of Business Ethics Research: A Global Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 557-573, July.
    20. Allen C. Goodman & Joshua Goodman & Lucas Goodman & Sarena Goodman, 2015. "A Few Goodmen: Surname-Sharing Economist Coauthors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 1392-1395, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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