Scientists on the move: The impact of collaboration with different mobility groups on the performance of Canadian scientists

This article explores how collaborations with researchers from different mobility groups affect the scientific performance of Canadian authors. We focus on three key indicators: contribution (the fractional count of an author’s publications), productivity (total number of publications), and scholarly impact (mean normalized citation score, MNCS). Using a novel method to classify mobility based on publication locations, we identify five groups: locals, immigrants, emigrants, foreigners, and travelers. We first provide descriptive insights into the presence of these groups within the Canadian research landscape. Then, using panel data regressions, we assess how collaboration with each group influences scientific performance. The study covers 58,511 Canadian researchers who began publishing in 2008 or later and were active for at least 5 years between their start year and 2023. Results show that collaboration with all mobility groups significantly enhances scientific performance. Collaborations with emigrants and foreigners have the strongest positive association with contribution, foreigners are most influential for productivity, and immigrants have the greatest impact on scholarly impact. Furthermore, gender-based analyses reveal that being a woman amplifies the positive effects of collaboration with immigrants on contribution and scholarly impact and with local peers on productivity. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how collaborations with different mobility groups influence academic performance. They also have important implications for science and immigration policy, suggesting the need to consider gender when designing related policies and when collaborating.