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Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century

April 28, 2011 Comments off

Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century (PDF)
Source: Royal Society

Science is conducted in more places than ever before, but it is also more interlinked. Over one-third of research papers are the direct result of international collaboration, with authors’ addresses from more than one country. The number of internationally co-authored papers has more than doubled since 1990. Researchers are increasingly mobile, travelling long distances to work with the best colleagues in their field, to access resources and share ideas and facilities. And they are being supported internationally through cross-border funding from international organisations (charities, philanthropic funding and business), multilateral initiatives between governments and research councils, multinational funding bodies and shared scientific infrastructure.

The scientific community is influenced by globalisation, and is also driven by its own dynamics. Scientists have been both motivated and enabled to work across disciplinary and international borders by technological advances and shifts in geopolitics. But science has always pushed boundaries, be they technological or national and political. Global science is increasing, but it is also nothing new. The founding members of the Royal Society 350 years ago looked beyond national borders to extend the frontiers of natural knowledge. Today’s scientific pioneers will need to know how to navigate the changing global scientific landscape if they are to keep extending those frontiers. This report is intended to help them understand the dynamics of this complex and fast- evolving phenomenon.

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