The collaboration behaviors of scientists in Italy: a field level analysis

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new author-based classification method to analyze research collaboration among Italian scientists, revealing significant differences from traditional publication-based approaches and providing a more precise benchmark for individual collaboration propensity.

Contribution

The study proposes an author classification approach for collaboration analysis, offering improved precision over traditional publication-based methods and applying it to Italian hard science researchers.

Findings

Significant differences from traditional publication-based methods

New methodology provides more precise collaboration benchmarks

Application to Italian scientists reveals diverse collaboration patterns

Abstract

The analysis of research collaboration by field is traditionally conducted beginning with the classification of the publications from the context of interest. In this work we propose an alternative approach based on the classification of the authors by field. The proposed method is more precise if the intended use is to provide a benchmark for the evaluation of individual propensity to collaborate. In the current study we apply the new methodology to all Italian university researchers in the hard sciences, measuring the propensity to collaborate for the various fields: in general, and specifically with intramural colleagues, extramural domestic and extramural foreign organizations. Using a simulation, we show that the results present substantial differences from those obtained through application of traditional approaches.