Investigating the interplay between fundamentals of national research systems: performance, investments and international collaborations

We discuss, at the macro-level of nations, the contribution of research funding and rate of international collaboration to research performance, with important implications for the science of science policy. In particular, we cross-correlate suitable measures of these quantities with a scientometric-based assessment of scientific success, studying both the average performance of nations and their temporal dynamics in the space defined by these variables during the last decade. We find significant differences among nations in terms of efficiency in turning (financial) input into bibliometrically measurable output, and we confirm that growth of international collaboration positively correlate with scientific success, with significant benefits brought by EU integration policies. Various geo-cultural clusters of nations naturally emerge from our analysis. We critically discuss the possible factors that potentially determine the observed patterns

International Collaboration in Science and the Formation of a Core Group

International collaboration as measured by co-authorship relations on refereed papers grew linearly from 1990 to 2005 in terms of the number of papers, but exponentially in terms of the number of international addresses. This confirms Persson et al.'s (2004) hypothesis of an inflation in international collaboration. Patterns in international collaboration in science can be considered as network effects, since there is no political institution mediating relationships at that level except for the initiatives of the European Commission. During the period 2000-2005, the network of global collaborations appears to have reinforced the formation of a core group of fourteen most cooperative countries. This core group can be expected to use knowledge from the global network with great efficiency, since these countries have strong national systems. Countries at the periphery may be disadvantaged by the increased strength of the core

Public-private partnerships in agricultural research: an analysis of challenges facing industry and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

"Public-private partnerships offer potentially important opportunities for pro-poor agricultural research in developing countries. Yet in the international agricultural research community-and with regard to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) itself-we see few examples of successful public-private partnerships, and fewer examples where such collaborations have contributed to food security, poverty reduction and economic growth. This study assesses the opportunities for, and challenges to, creating and sustaining public-private partnerships between the international agricultural research centers of the CGIAR and leading multinational, research-based agribusiness companies. The study hypothesizes that the willingness and ability of public agencies and private firms to enter into partnerships are constrained by fundamentally different incentive structures; by insufficient minimization of the costs and risks of collaboration; by an inability to overcome mutually negative perceptions; by limited use of creative organizational mechanisms that reduce competition over key assets and resources; and by insufficient access to information on successful partnership models. The study methodology is based on interviews and discussions with key stakeholders and a wide review of the literature on public-private partnership. Tentative findings suggest that while incentives and perceptions do differ between sectors, sufficient common space exists or can be created through incentive structuring to facilitate greater partnership. However, both public- and private-sector partners inadequately account for and minimize the costs and risks of partnership. Similarly, partners discount the need for brokers and third-party actors to manage research collaborations and reduce competition between sectors. Finally, partners are operating without sufficient information on existing partnership experiences, lessons, and models, potentially contributing to a persistent or widening gap between sectors.intellectual property, Agricultural biotechnology, Research and Development, Property rights, Multinational firms, Collaborative research, Public-private partnership,

Global South Research Collaboration: A Comparative Perspective

Research collaboration has become a major research topic in the social sciences. While this literature has mainly focused on collaborative dynamics in the Global North, more recent studies have examined these dynamics within the Global South. This article expands the scope of analysis by comparing the level of co-publications by Global South-based scholars with Global South-based colleagues and that between academics at Global South institutions and researchers in Global North universities. It shows that academic partnerships within the Global South are less common than instances of collaboration between the Global South and Global North. The relatively weak Global South collaborative dynamics are at odds with most Global South leaders’ encouragement of partnerships between scholars within the South. The article also demonstrates that collaboration seems to be largely informed by linguistic commonality and historical (colonial) relations of dependency. Contrary to expectations that US-based academics would be the primary partners for Global South academics due to US hegemony, the latter are more likely to collaborate with colleagues in European countries, more specifically countries that colonised their countries

How the internet is shaping the Chilean scientific community: globalization and dependency

The Internet has emerged as a catalyst for global knowledge production. This is supported by its positive impacts in the First World. A progressive assessment argues that the Internet will be the elixir that brings immediate visibility and relevance to scientific communities in the periphery. Yet, Internet diffusion is often framed by past technology failures that further widen global divides. This characterizes an affliction argument. The teething argument suggests that adoption within the Third World is tentative at best with benefits unfolding over time in some regions but not others. This dissertation is a qualitative and quantitative study that tests these three technology arguments (elixir, affliction, and, teething) in a Latin American region. It considers the relationship between scientific communication, collaboration, and productivity in Chilean science, focusing on the role of Internet practice. Results are presented through the qualitative analysis of 29 video taped interviews, followed by a quantitative analysis of a communication network survey administered to 337 Chilean researchers. Qualitative findings suggest that despite Chilean regional leadership in economic output, political disruptions and a paucity of local resources motivate many researchers to seek training abroad. This creates new, exterior contacts that are maintained through email communication. These cyber links, though, may also be creating technology dependencies. Quantitative results confirm that Chilean scientists are well connected when compared to past region studies. Yet, the Chilean scientific community reports an inverse relationship between domestic and foreign contacts, mirroring the disjointed network profile found in other developing regions. Other results suggest that Chilean scientists frequently publish in foreign journals. And in contrast to findings from other developing areas, collaboration is consistently related with increased domestic publications. Although Chileans seldom report problems, those they do report are associated with working with more collaborators and having geographically heterogeneous networks. Email shows no effect toward reducing research problems; and in some cases, email is associated with more intensive reports of problems. Taken as a whole, this author\u27s findings support a teething argument for Internet influence on professional networks and activities within the Chilean scientific community