The collaboration behaviors of scientists in Italy: a field level analysis

Abstract

The analysis of research collaboration by field is traditionally conducted beginning with the classification of the publications from the context of interest. In this work we propose an alternative approach based on the classification of the authors by field. The proposed method is more precise if the intended use is to provide a benchmark for the evaluation of individual propensity to collaborate. In the current study we apply the new methodology to all Italian university researchers in the hard sciences, measuring the propensity to collaborate for the various fields: in general, and specifically with intramural colleagues, extramural domestic and extramural foreign organizations. Using a simulation, we show that the results present substantial differences from those obtained through application of traditional approaches.

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Gender differences in research collaboration
• The relationship among research productivity, research collaboration, and their determinants
• The relationship between the number of authors of a publication, its citations and the impact factor of the publishing journal: Evidence from Italy
• The collaboration behavior of top scientists
• Gender differences in research performance within and between countries: Italy vs Norway
• A gender analysis of top scientists' collaboration behavior: evidence from Italy
• Variation in research collaboration patterns across academic ranks
• The effect of multidisciplinary collaborations on research diversification
• Assessing national strengths and weaknesses in research fields
• The balance of knowledge flows
• A novel methodology to assess the scientific standing of nations at field level
• Who benefits from a country's scientific research?
• On the relation between the degree of internationalization of cited and citing publications: A field level analysis, including and excluding self-citations
• Authorship analysis of specialized vs diversified research output