Quantifying the national innovation system: inter-regional collaboration networks in South Korea

Abstract

This article identifies the underlying patterns of collaboration and scientific co-authorship among geographically dispersed Korean researchers, using the most reliable longitudinal citation data available. The network indicators of centrality, network density and network fragmentation are used to present the evolving network of co-authorship relations among 16 Korean provinces and metropolitan areas. Our results confirm that the density of scientific communication flows has deepened in terms of the inter-connectedness of networks, while the centrality of Seoul as the primary research hub has declined. Fragmentation analysis does reveal, however, that Seoul is still the research broker for the country. To create still more change in Korea's research topography, there must be a renewed focus on regional innovation centres and linkages between heterogeneous research entities.