Mapping world scientific collaboration: Authors, institutions, and countries

TLDR

International collaboration is hailed as a hallmark of modern science, yet quantitative evidence of its landscape and trends remains scarce. The study analyzes 14 million Web of Science records to provide a state‑of‑the‑art description of global scientific collaboration, aiming to inform policymakers, administrators, and others interested in its evolution. The authors mapped collaboration patterns worldwide by analyzing 14 million WoS documents. The analysis shows that while the size of the largest research teams has remained stable, smaller teams have grown, and the largest teams are increasingly diverse and international; collaboration varies by field, with Western countries forming a core network and high‑impact institutions being more collaborative.

Abstract

Abstract International collaboration is being heralded as the hallmark of contemporary scientific production. Yet little quantitative evidence has portrayed the landscape and trends of such collaboration. To this end, 14,000,000 documents indexed in Thomson Reuters's Web of Science (WoS) were studied to provide a state‐of‐the‐art description of scientific collaborations across the world. The results indicate that the number of authors in the largest research teams have not significantly grown during the past decade; however, the number of smaller research teams has seen significant increases in growth. In terms of composition, the largest teams have become more diverse than the latter teams and tend more toward interinstitutional and international collaboration. Investigating the size of teams showed large variation between fields. Mapping scientific cooperation at the country level reveals that Western countries situated at the core of the map are extensively cooperating with each other. High‐impact institutions are significantly more collaborative than others. This work should inform policy makers, administrators, and those interested in the progression of scientific collaboration.