Scientific co-operation between Canada and the European Community

Abstract

This presents a detailed statistical analysis of international collaboration between Canada and European Community countries. It uses data on internationally co-authored articles derived from the Science Citation Index. It describes how collaboration between Canada and its European partners progressed and the increasing internationalization in their scientific activities between 1981 and 1986. An overview of patterns of collaboration in eight major fields in different European countries is given. Collaboration with Canada is viewed from each side, and by fields. A major finding is that Canada's research collaboration with the EC is highly concentrated in three countries—France, West Germany and, especially, Britain. Mathematics proved to be one of the privileged fields in collaboration in Canada. Factors which enhance collaboration between countries are analyzed, and an attempt made to forecast trends between Canada and EC countries.