Navigating disruptions: The effects of the pandemic on scientific collaboration and research novelty in Hong Kong

Rong Ni and Jue Wang

Journal of Informetrics, 2025, vol. 19, issue 2

Abstract: Scientific collaboration and novelty are fundamental drivers of progress in knowledge advancement and innovation. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional channels of scholarly communication, potentially influencing both short- and long-term scientific endeavors. Using data from 116,942 WoS publications from Hong Kong between 2017 and 2022, this study investigates the pandemic's impact on both scientific collaboration and research novelty. Our analysis reveals that the pandemic reduced the proportion of international collaborative papers and led to a contraction in the scale of international collaboration. On the other hand, domestic collaboration increased in both scope and scale. Additionally, while the pandemic negatively affected research novelty, international collaboration significantly mitigated this impact. However, no moderating effect of collaboration was observed on high-novelty research. This study underscores the importance of maintaining a collaborative scientific community and highlights the resilience and adaptability of academic communities when facing unprecedented challenges.

Keywords: Scientific collaboration; Combinatorial novelty; Face-to-face interaction; Pandemic; Hong Kong (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:infome:v:19:y:2025:i:2:s1751157725000203

DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2025.101656

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