How are collaboration and productivity correlated at various career stages of scientists?

Zhigang Hu (), Chaomei Chen () and Zeyuan Liu ()
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Zhigang Hu: Dalian University of Technology
Chaomei Chen: Dalian University of Technology
Zeyuan Liu: Dalian University of Technology

Scientometrics, 2014, vol. 101, issue 2, No 39, 1553-1564

Abstract: Abstract Collaboration is believed to be influential on researchers’ productivity. However, the impact of collaboration relies on factors such as disciplines, collaboration patterns, and collaborators’ characters. In addition, at different career stages, such as the growth or the establishment career stages of scientists, collaboration is different in scale and scope, and its effect on productivity varies. In this paper, we study the relationships between collaboration and productivity in four disciplines, Organic Chemistry, Virology, Mathematics and Computer Science. Our study found that the productivity is correlated with collaboration in general, but the correlation could be positive or negative on the basis of which aspect of collaboration to measure, i.e., the scale or scope of the collaboration. The correlation becomes stronger as individual scientists progress through various stages of their career. Furthermore, experimental disciplines, such as Organic Chemistry and Virology, have shown stronger correlation coefficients than theoretical ones such as Mathematics and Computer Science.

Keywords: Collaboration; Productivity; Academic career age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1323-6

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