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Shaping the European research collaboration in the 6th Framework Programme health thematic area through network analysis

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Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the collaboration network of the 6th Framework Programme of the EU, specifically the “Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health” thematic area. A collaboration network of 2,132 participant organizations was built and several variables were added to improve the visualization such as type of organization and nationality. Several statistical tests and structural indicators were used to uncover the main characteristic of this collaboration network. Results show that the network is constituted by a dense core of government research organizations and universities which act as large hubs that attract new partners to the network, mainly companies and non-profit organizations.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the R&D Framework Programmes Department of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) of Spain for their support and the supply of 6th EU Framework Programme data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. R&D Analysis, Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, CSIC, Serrano, 113, 28002, Madrid, Spain

    José Luis Ortega

  2. Cybermetrics Lab, CCHS-CSIC, Albasanz, 26-28, 28037, Madrid, Spain

    Isidro F. Aguillo

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  1. José Luis Ortega
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  2. Isidro F. Aguillo
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Correspondence to José Luis Ortega.

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Ortega, J.L., Aguillo, I.F. Shaping the European research collaboration in the 6th Framework Programme health thematic area through network analysis. Scientometrics 85, 377–386 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0218-4

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