From communicative to cultural memory: The role of collaboration in the diffusion of scientific innovation

Yujia Zhai, Ruolan Zhuang, Yue Liu, Jinwen Zhang and Ying Ding

Journal of Informetrics, 2025, vol. 19, issue 3

Abstract: By integrating theories of collective memory and innovation diffusion, we construct a citation-based scientific innovation collective memory network and define four types of authors: Original authors, Adopters, Collaborators, and Converters. Additionally, we introduce two new quantitative metrics—the Adopter Conversion Rate (CRA) and Author Conversion Rate (CRC)—to assess the role of collaboration in the diffusion of scientific innovations. Using datasets from APS, Medline, and DBLP, we selected the top 100 most-cited papers published over 20 years ago as our research samples. Through a comprehensive analysis of citation patterns, scientific collaboration networks, and conversion rates, we uncover the pathways and mechanisms of knowledge diffusion in the scientific community. Our findings reveal that scientific research collaboration not only accelerates the diffusion of scientific innovations from their inception but also, as trust-based relationships develop and strengthen, facilitates efficient knowledge sharing and the growth of innovative activities. Furthermore, collaboration facilitates the transition from communicative memory to cultural memory, ensuring the long-term preservation and transmission of scientific knowledge.

Keywords: Collective memory; Innovation diffusion; Scientific collaboration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S175115772500063X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:infome:v:19:y:2025:i:3:s175115772500063x

DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2025.101699

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Informetrics is currently edited by Leo Egghe

More articles in Journal of Informetrics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().