Scientific Collaboration

摘要

Scientific collaboration is increasing in frequency and importance. It has the potential to solve complex scientific problems and promote various political, economic, and social agendas, such as democracy, sustainable development, and cultural understanding and integration. Bibliometric studies over the past two decades have shown a continuous increase in the number of co-authored papers in every scientific discipline, as well as within and across countries and geographic areas (Cronin, 2005; Cronin, Shaw, & La Barre, 2003, 2004; Grossman, 2002; Moody, 2004; National Science Board, 2004; Wagner & Leydesdorff, 2005). Subauthorship, as measured by the number of colleagues thanked in acknowledgment sections of papers, has also increased consistently (Cronin, 2005; Cronin et al., 2003, 2004). In general, co-authored publications are cited more frequently than single-authored papers (Persson, Glanzel, & Danell, 2004). Increasingly, public and private research funding agencies require interdisciplinary, international, and inter-institutional collaboration. Examples include the National Science Foundation Science & Technology Center (www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/stc) and Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (www.nsf.gov/eng/iucrc) programs, as well as the European Science Foundation Sixth Framework Programme (http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.cfm?p=0).