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Collaboration and distances between German immunological institutes--a trend analysis
Frank Havemann1, Michael Heinz, Hildrun Kretschmer
1Department of Library and Information Science, Humboldt University Berlin, Dorotheenstr, 26, D-10099 Berlin, Germany. Frank.Havemann@ib.hu-berlin.de
Journal of Biomedical Discovery and Collaboration
|June 16, 2006
Summary
Geographical distance remains important for research collaboration, but leaving one's home town for a collaborator negates distance effects. The internet has not significantly altered these collaboration patterns among German immunological institutes.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Bibliometrics
- Scientific Collaboration
Background:
- Investigated the evolving role of geographical proximity in research collaboration.
- Focused on authors at German immunological institutes for a homogeneous sample.
- Considered factors beyond distance: research field, language, and culture.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis that distance matters in research collaboration, but its importance has decreased.
- To analyze how geographical proximity influences co-authorship patterns over time.
- To assess the impact of the internet on collaboration dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed yearly co-authorship links between German immunological institutes (1992-2002).
- Compared co-authorship distributions with yearly distance distributions of institutes.
- Weighted distributions by the number of published papers.
Main Results:
- Place matters, but distance becomes irrelevant when collaborators are outside the home town.
- This finding was most statistically significant in 2002.
- A slight increase in researchers leaving their home town for collaborators was observed.
- Institute productivity distributions were found to be lognormal.
Conclusions:
- The internet has had a minimal impact on collaboration patterns within German immunological institutes.
- Collaboration dynamics are influenced by local proximity, with a diminishing role for distance when leaving the immediate vicinity.
- Place remains a significant factor in initiating and maintaining research collaborations.