US influence on international research partnerships in decline

A new analysis of co-authorship of scientific papers suggests that the US may be losing its dominant position in the global research ecosystem. The report notes that the US ‘appears in decline as a research partner’, while scientists elsewhere are forging partnerships more rapidly with colleagues from other countries.

The findings come from researchers at Clarivate’s Institute of Scientific Information who analysed decades of authorship data covering papers indexed by Web of Science (WoS) to identify trends in global research collaboration.

Overall, the researchers note that the number of scientific papers being published each year is growing – a trend that has continued for decades. And over time, an increasing proportion of these papers are being authored by colleagues from more than one country. These collaborations also seem to be becoming more international, with the Clarivate team identifying a shift away from bilateral partnerships towards projects that involve contributors from several countries.