Academic collaborations and movements towards successful careers in physics

TL;DR

This study analyzes how physicists' evolving collaboration networks influence long-term career success, revealing optimal network patterns and the positive role of mobility in scientific achievement.

Contribution

It systematically links network evolution patterns with career success and mobility in physics, using a large longitudinal dataset and clustering analysis.

Findings

Loosely connected networks with mid-career expansion lead to higher success.

Optimal network balance involves moderate clustering by year 15.

Mobility positively correlates with successful network patterns and scientific outcomes.

Abstract

Collaboration networks evolve throughout academic careers, yet few studies systematically examine how these network dynamics relate to long-term career success and mobility. Analysing 35,708 physicists' careers spanning at least 15 years, we use time series clustering to identify ten distinct evolution patterns of network size and clustering coefficient across career years 5 to 15. We report three key results. First, authors who begin with loosely connected networks and progressively tighten their networks while expanding network size during mid-career achieve the highest PI attainment rates, publication output, and citation impact. Second, despite different starting points, network evolution patterns associated with better outcomes converge toward moderate clustering by career year 15, suggesting an optimal balance between core team cohesion and diverse external connections. Third, mobility is positively associated with these successful network evolution patterns and remains positively associated with scientific outcomes even after controlling for network evolution patterns.