Age structures of scientific collaboration in Chinese computer science

This paper is a scientometric study of the age structure of scientific collaboration in Chinese computer science, Analysis reveals some special age structures in scientific collaboration in Chinese computer science. Most collaborations are composed of scientists younger than thirty-six (Younger) or older than fifty (Elder). For two-dimensional collaboration formed by first and second authors, Younger-Elder and Younger-Younger are the Predominant age structures. For three-dimensional collaboration formed by first, second and third authors, Younger-Younger-Elder and Younger-Younger-Younger are the most important age structures. Collaboration between two authors older than 38 amounts to only 6.4 percent of all two-person collaborations. Collaboration between two middle-aged scientists is seldom seen. Why do such types of age structure in Chinese computer science exist? We suggest a tentative, explanation based on analyses of the age composition of all authors, the age distributions of the authors in different ranks, and the name-ordering of authors in articles written by professors and their students.