Vincent Larivière Université de Montréal Université du Québec à Montréal
Byungkyu Lee New York University
Yong-Yeol Ahn Indiana University
Cassidy R. Sugimoto Georgia Institute of Technology
Source
via arXiv
DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.13020
Abstract
Science is increasingly global, with international collaboration playing a crucial role in advancing scientific development and knowledge exchange across borders. However, the processes that regulate how scientific labor is distributed among countries remain underexplored, leading to challenges in ensuring both effective collaboration and equitable participation across diverse scientific communities. Here, we leverage three million internationally coauthored publications produced by countries worldwide to examine the division of scientific labor in international collaboration, identify the factors that shape this distribution, and assess its broader consequences. Our findings uncover a persistent hierarchical structure in international collaboration, with researchers from scientifically advanced countries tend to occupy leading roles, while those from less-developed countries are often relegated to supportive roles, even after controlling for various influential factors. This hierarchy is also reflected in the research content, as countries with lower scientific capacity tend to participate in international collaborations that deviate from their domestic science. By analyzing the labor division within international collaborations, we demonstrate that researchers from less-developed countries face systematic disadvantages, which not only limit their contributions to the global scientific community but also prevent them from fully benefiting from international collaborations.
Figure 3 Researchers from scientifically non-advanced countries are less likely to assume the role of the last author, even when they provide funding for the research. (a) Causal diagram for the regression model. (b)The marginal effect of funding on playing the role of the first author, middle author, and the last author. Source: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.13020
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
