Globalization of Scientific Communication: Evidence from authors in academic journals by country of origin

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the globalization of scientific communication across countries and disciplines, revealing disparities between advanced and developing nations, with notable trends in China and Russia from 2005 to 2017.

Contribution

It introduces seven new globalization indicators based on author country composition, applied to a large dataset of journals and countries over a 12-year period.

Findings

Advanced countries maintain high and stable scientific globalization.

Social and health sciences are less globalized than physical and life sciences.

China has significantly increased its scientific globalization over time.

Abstract

This study measures the tendency to publish in international scientific journals. For each of nearly 35 thousands Scopus-indexed journals, we derive seven globalization indicators based on the composition of authors by country of origin and other characteristics. These are subsequently scaled up to the level of 174 countries and 27 disciplines between 2005 and 2017. The results indicate that advanced countries maintain high globalization of scientific communication that is not varying across disciplines. Social sciences and health sciences are less globalized than physical and life sciences. Countries of the former Soviet bloc score far lower on the globalization measures, especially in social sciences or health sciences. Russia remains among the least globalized during the whole period, with no upward trend. Contrary, China has profoundly globalized its science system, gradually moving from the lowest globalization figures to the world average. The paper concludes with reflections on measurement issues and policy implications.