Patterns of Knowledge Diffusion via Research Collaboration on a Global Level

The evolution of the patterns of collaborative strategies plays an important role in the social construction of science to design efficient research policies and to support the production of knowledge. As international research landscape is clearly undergoing continued structural change, we aim to analyze dynamics in collaboration strategies/patterns at the global and disciplinary level, and to investigate whether countries are collaborating more diversely within their region compared to outside their own region using different approaches. We found that internationalization in science is growing in all disciplines. The number of countries in the global network establishes stronger partnerships, forming tightly knit groups and spreading influence more widely among countries with a preference to collaborate within the region instead of collaborating with out-region countries. We believe that these results, though preliminary, have significant implications for the design of programmes and alliances.