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International scientific collaboration of China: collaborating countries, institutions and individuals

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Abstract

Using bibliometric methods, we investigate China’s international scientific collaboration from three levels of collaborating countries, institutions and individuals. We design a database in SQL Server, and make analysis of Chinese SCI papers based on the corresponding author field. We find that China’s international scientific collaboration is focused on a handful of countries. Nearly 95 % international co-authored papers are collaborated with only 20 countries, among which the USA account for more than 40 % of all. Results also show that Chinese lineage in the international co-authorship is obvious, which means Chinese immigrant scientists are playing an important role in China’s international scientific collaboration, especially in English-speaking countries.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the project of “Social Science Foundation of China” (10CZX011), the project of “Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China” (20090041110001), and the project of “Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” (DUT12RW309).

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Correspondence to Xianwen Wang.

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Wang, X., Xu, S., Wang, Z. et al. International scientific collaboration of China: collaborating countries, institutions and individuals. Scientometrics 95, 885–894 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0877-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0877-4

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