IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/infome/v14y2020i4s175115772030095x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge spillovers: Does the geographic proximity effect decay over time? A discipline-level analysis, accounting for cognitive proximity, with and without self-citations

Author

Listed:
  • Abramo, Giovanni
  • D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea
  • Di Costa, Flavia

Abstract

This work analyzes the variation over time of the effect of geographic distance on knowledge flows. The flows are measured through the citations exchanged between scientific publications, including and excluding self-citations. To calculate geographic distances between citing and cited publication, each publication is associated with a “prevailing” territory, according to the authors’ affiliations. We then apply a gravity model to account for the research size of the territories, in terms of cognitive proximity of citing-cited publications. The field of observation is the 2010–2017 world publications citing the 2010–2012 Italian publications, as indexed in the Web of Science. The results show that in domestic knowledge flows, geographic proximity remains an influential factor through time, although with differences among disciplines and trends of attenuating effects. Finally, we replicate the analyses of knowledge flows but with the exclusion of self-citations: in this manner the effect of geographic proximity seems reduced, particularly at the national scale, but the differences (with vs without self-citations) lessen through time. As shown in previous works, the effect of distance on continental flows is modest (imperceptible for intercontinental flows), yet here too time has some influence, including concerning exclusion of self-citations.

Suggested Citation

  • Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2020. "Knowledge spillovers: Does the geographic proximity effect decay over time? A discipline-level analysis, accounting for cognitive proximity, with and without self-citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:14:y:2020:i:4:s175115772030095x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2020.101072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S175115772030095X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.joi.2020.101072?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Nathan, Max & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2016. "Do inventors talk to strangers? On proximity and collaborative knowledge creation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 177-194.
    2. Boschma, Ron & Heimeriks, Gaston & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre, 2014. "Scientific knowledge dynamics and relatedness in biotech cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 107-114.
    3. Wuestman, Mignon L. & Hoekman, Jarno & Frenken, Koen, 2019. "The geography of scientific citations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1771-1780.
    4. Wuyts, Stefan & Colombo, Massimo G. & Dutta, Shantanu & Nooteboom, Bart, 2005. "Empirical tests of optimal cognitive distance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 277-302, October.
    5. Magda Fontana & Fabio Montobbio & Paolo Racca, 2019. "Topics And Geographical Diffusion Of Knowledge In Top Economic Journals," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(4), pages 1771-1797, October.
    6. Roberta Capello & Andrea Caragliu, 2018. "Proximities and the Intensity of Scientific Relations," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 41(1), pages 7-44, January.
    7. Roderik Ponds & Frank Van Oort & Koen Frenken, 2007. "The geographical and institutional proximity of research collaboration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(3), pages 423-443, August.
    8. Keith Head & Yao Amber Li & Asier Minondo, 2019. "Geography, Ties, and Knowledge Flows: Evidence from Citations in Mathematics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 713-727, October.
    9. Caroline S. Wagner & Travis A. Whetsell & Loet Leydesdorff, 2017. "Growth of international collaboration in science: revisiting six specialties," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1633-1652, March.
    10. Vieira, E.S. & Gomes, J.A.N.F., 2010. "Citations to scientific articles: Its distribution and dependence on the article features," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-13.
    11. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2020. "The role of geographical proximity in knowledge diffusion, measured by citations to scientific literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    12. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Flavia Costa, 2020. "Does the geographic proximity effect on knowledge spillovers vary across research fields?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 1021-1036, May.
    13. Yuxian Liu & Ronald Rousseau, 2010. "Knowledge diffusion through publications and citations: A case study using ESI-fields as unit of diffusion," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(2), pages 340-351, February.
    14. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2015. "Proximity and Innovation: From Statics to Dynamics," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 907-920, June.
    15. Emmanouil Tranos & Peter Nijkamp, 2013. "The Death Of Distance Revisited: Cyber-Place, Physical And Relational Proximities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 855-873, December.
    16. Per Ahlgren & Olle Persson & Robert Tijssen, 2013. "Geographical distance in bibliometric relations within epistemic communities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(2), pages 771-784, May.
    17. Tom Broekel & Wladimir Mueller, 2018. "Critical links in knowledge networks – What about proximities and gatekeeper organisations?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(10), pages 919-939, November.
    18. Jiang, Ling (Alice) & Zhu, Nibing & Yang, Zhilin & Xu, Shen & Jun, Minjoon, 2018. "The relationships between distance factors and international collaborative research outcomes: A bibliometric examination," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 618-630.
    19. Katy Börner & Shashikant Penumarthy & Mark Meiss & Weimao Ke, 2006. "Mapping the diffusion of scholarly knowledge among major U.S. research institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 68(3), pages 415-426, September.
    20. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2001. "articles: Localised knowledge spillovers vs. innovative milieux: Knowledge "tacitness" reconsidered," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 80(3), pages 255-273.
    21. Thed N. Van Leeuwen & Henk F. Moed & Robert J. W. Tijssen & Martijn S. Visser & Anthony F. J. Van Raan, 2001. "Language biases in the coverage of the Science Citation Index and its consequencesfor international comparisons of national research performance," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 335-346, April.
    22. Frenken, Koen & Hardeman, Sjoerd & Hoekman, Jarno, 2009. "Spatial scientometrics: Towards a cumulative research program," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 222-232.
    23. Aditi Mehta & Marc Rysman & Tim Simcoe, 2010. "Identifying the age profile of patent citations: new estimates of knowledge diffusion," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 1179-1204, November/.
    24. Wang, Jue & Zhang, Liwei, 2018. "Proximal advantage in knowledge diffusion: The time dimension," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 858-867.
    25. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    26. Maurseth, Per Botolf & Verspagen, Bart, 2002. " Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Patent Citations Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 531-545, December.
    27. Dag W. Aksnes, 2003. "A macro study of self-citation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 56(2), pages 235-246, February.
    28. Yuxian Liu & Ronald Rousseau, 2010. "Knowledge diffusion through publications and citations: A case study using ESI‐fields as unit of diffusion," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(2), pages 340-351, February.
    29. Thed van Leeuwen & Robert Tijssen, 2000. "Interdisciplinary dynamics of modern science: analysis of cross-disciplinary citation flows," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 183-187, December.
    30. Per Botolf Maurseth & Bart Verspagen, 2002. "Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Patent Citations Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 531-545, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2021. "On the relation between the degree of internationalization of cited and citing publications: A field level analysis, including and excluding self-citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    2. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2021. "A bibliometric methodology to unveil territorial inequities in the scientific wealth to combat COVID-19," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(8), pages 6601-6624, August.
    3. Hou, Lei & Pan, Yueling & Zhu, Jonathan J.H., 2021. "Impact of scientific, economic, geopolitical, and cultural factors on international research collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    4. Abdelghani Maddi & Lesya Baudoin, 2022. "The quality of the web of science data: a longitudinal study on the completeness of authors-addresses links," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6279-6292, November.
    5. Lei Hou & Jiashan Luo & Xue Pan, 2022. "Research Topic Specialization of Universities in Information Science and Library Science and Its Impact on Inter-University Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Giovanni Abramo & Francesca Apponi & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo, 2022. "The geographic proximity effect on domestic cross-sector vis-a-vis intra-sector research collaborations," Papers 2202.10347, arXiv.org.
    7. Giovanni Abramo & Francesca Apponi & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2022. "The geographic proximity effect on domestic cross-sector vis-à-vis intra-sector research collaborations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3505-3521, June.
    8. Shahzad, Murtuza & Alhoori, Hamed & Freedman, Reva & Rahman, Shaikh Abdul, 2022. "Quantifying the online long-term interest in research," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Flavia Costa, 2020. "Does the geographic proximity effect on knowledge spillovers vary across research fields?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 1021-1036, May.
    2. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2020. "The role of geographical proximity in knowledge diffusion, measured by citations to scientific literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    3. Abramo, Giovanni & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Di Costa, Flavia, 2021. "On the relation between the degree of internationalization of cited and citing publications: A field level analysis, including and excluding self-citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    4. Wang, Jue & Zhang, Liwei, 2018. "Proximal advantage in knowledge diffusion: The time dimension," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 858-867.
    5. Caragliu, Andrea, 2021. "Energy efficiency-enhancing policies and firm performance: Evidence from the paper and glass industries in Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Morescalchi, Andrea & Pammolli, Fabio & Penner, Orion & Petersen, Alexander M. & Riccaboni, Massimo, 2015. "The evolution of networks of innovators within and across borders: Evidence from patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 651-668.
    7. Ana Fernández & Esther Ferrándiz & M. Dolores León, 2021. "Are organizational and economic proximity driving factors of scientific collaboration? Evidence from Spanish universities, 2001–2010," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 579-602, January.
    8. Maria Tsouri, 2022. "Knowledge networks and strong tie creation: the role of relative network position," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 95-114, January.
    9. Vieira, Elizabeth S. & Cerdeira, Jorge & Teixeira, Aurora A.C., 2022. "Which distance dimensions matter in international research collaboration? A cross-country analysis by scientific domain," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    10. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2021. "A bibliometric methodology to unveil territorial inequities in the scientific wealth to combat COVID-19," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(8), pages 6601-6624, August.
    11. Laurent R. Bergé, 2017. "Network proximity in the geography of research collaboration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 785-815, November.
    12. Pan, Xuelian & Yan, Erjia & Cui, Ming & Hua, Weina, 2018. "Examining the usage, citation, and diffusion patterns of bibliometric mapping software: A comparative study of three tools," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 481-493.
    13. Christian Omobhude & Shih-Hsin Chen, 2019. "The Roles and Measurements of Proximity in Sustained Technology Development: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-30, January.
    14. Di Cagno, Daniela & Fabrizi, Andrea & Meliciani, Valentina & Wanzenböck, Iris, 2016. "The impact of relational spillovers from joint research projects on knowledge creation across European regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 83-94.
    15. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo, 2020. "The domestic localization of knowledge flows as evidenced by publication citation: the case of Italy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1305-1329, November.
    16. Jyoti Dua & Vivek Kumar Singh & Hiran H. Lathabai, 2023. "Measuring and characterizing international collaboration patterns in Indian scientific research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5081-5116, September.
    17. Viktor Květoň & Josef Novotný & Jiří Blažek & David Marek, 2022. "The role of geographic and cognitive proximity in knowledge networks: The case of joint R&D projects," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 351-372, April.
    18. Yawen Qin & Xiaozhen Qin & Haohui Chen & Xun Li & Wei Lang, 2021. "Measuring cognitive proximity using semantic analysis: A case study of China's ICT industry," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 6059-6084, July.
    19. Jyoti Dua & Hiran H. Lathabai & Vivek Kumar Singh, 2023. "Measuring and characterizing research collaboration in SAARC countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(2), pages 1265-1294, February.
    20. Utku Ali Rıza Alpaydın & Rune Dahl Fitjar, 2021. "Proximity across the distant worlds of university–industry collaborations," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 689-711, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:14:y:2020:i:4:s175115772030095x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joi .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.