IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdj/smioir/2023-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can scientists remain internationally visible after the return to their home country? A study of Chinese scientists

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Zhang

    (Department of Information Management, Peking University)

  • Cornelia Lawson

    (Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester)

  • Liangping Ding

    (National Science Library, The Chinese Academy of Sciences; Department of Library, Information and Archives Management, The University of The Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Returning scientists play a critical role in building up the academic workforce and science in their home country. Yet, in this study we argue that return mobility may limit scientists‟ international relevance and thus spillover effects may not be realised. We take scientists returning to China as a sample to investigate the impact of return mobility on international visibility/impact. What is more, we explore the roles of the international collaboration network and international knowledge base in this effect. Our findings clarify the limitation of return mobility and provide some empirical evidence on the limits of global knowledge spillovers in science and talent introduction policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Zhang & Cornelia Lawson & Liangping Ding, 2023. "Can scientists remain internationally visible after the return to their home country? A study of Chinese scientists," MIOIR Working Paper Series 2023-01, The Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdj:smioir:2023-01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=66885
    File Function: Submitted version (MIOIR WP Series), 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas & Kirk B. Doran, 2021. "The Collapse Of The Soviet Union And The Productivity Of American Mathematicians," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 11, pages 313-373, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Bárbara S. Lancho Barrantes & Vicente P. Guerrero Bote & Zaida Chinchilla Rodríguez & Félix de Moya Anegón, 2012. "Citation flows in the zones of influence of scientific collaborations," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(3), pages 481-489, March.
    3. Jishnu Das & Quy-Toan Do, 2020. "US and them - The geography of academic research," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Sebastian Galliani & Ugo Panizza (ed.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 111-114, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Vincent Larivière & Kaile Gong & Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2018. "Citations strength begins at home," Nature, Nature, vol. 564(7735), pages 70-71, December.
    5. Franzoni, Chiara & Scellato, Giuseppe & Stephan, Paula, 2014. "The mover’s advantage: The superior performance of migrant scientists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 89-93.
    6. Cornelia Lawson & Sotaro Shibayama, 2015. "International research visits and careers: An analysis of bioscience academics in Japan," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(5), pages 690-710.
    7. David Tyfield & Yongguan Zhu & Jinghua Cao, 2009. "The importance of the ‘international collaboration dividend’: the case of China," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(9), pages 723-735, November.
    8. Lawson, Cornelia & Salter, Ammon & Hughes, Alan & Kitson, Michael, 2019. "Citizens of somewhere: Examining the geography of foreign and native-born academics’ engagement with external actors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 759-774.
    9. Cruz-Castro, Laura & Sanz-Menéndez, Luis, 2010. "Mobility versus job stability: Assessing tenure and productivity outcomes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 27-38, February.
    10. Scellato, Giuseppe & Franzoni, Chiara & Stephan, Paula, 2015. "Migrant scientists and international networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 108-120.
    11. Joseph N. Luchman, 2021. "Determining relative importance in Stata using dominance analysis: domin and domme," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 21(2), pages 510-538, June.
    12. Joyce Lau, 2022. "Is China open to adopting a culture of innovation?," Nature, Nature, vol. 612(7939), pages 14-16, December.
    13. Gaughan, Monica & Robin, Stephane, 2004. "National science training policy and early scientific careers in France and the United States," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 569-581, May.
    14. Liyue Chen & Jielan Ding & Vincent Larivière, 2022. "Measuring the citation context of national self‐references," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(5), pages 671-686, May.
    15. Baruffaldi, Stefano H. & Landoni, Paolo, 2012. "Return mobility and scientific productivity of researchers working abroad: The role of home country linkages," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1655-1665.
    16. Zhang, Mengya & Zhang, Gupeng & Liu, Yun & Zhai, Xiaorong & Han, Xinying, 2020. "Scientists’ genders and international academic collaboration: An empirical study of Chinese universities and research institutes," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    17. Giulio Marini & Lili Yang, 2021. "Globally Bred Chinese Talents Returning Home: An Analysis of a Reverse Brain-Drain Flagship Policy," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(4), pages 541-552.
    18. Monica Gaughan & Stéphane Robin, 2004. "National science training policy and early scientific careers in France and the United States," Post-Print hal-00279013, HAL.
    19. Alesia Zuccala, 2010. "The mathematical review system: does reviewer status play a role in the citation process?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 221-235, July.
    20. Alberto Baccini & Giuseppe De Nicolao & Eugenio Petrovich, 2019. "Citation gaming induced by bibliometric evaluation: A country-level comparative analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    21. Varsha Singh, 2018. "Comparing research productivity of returnee-PhDs in science, engineering, and the social sciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(3), pages 1241-1252, June.
    22. Kaile Gong & Juan Xie & Ying Cheng & Vincent Larivière & Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2019. "The citation advantage of foreign language references for Chinese social science papers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(3), pages 1439-1460, September.
    23. Richard J. Ladle & Peter A. Todd & Ana. C. M. Malhado, 2012. "Assessing insularity in global science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 745-750, December.
    24. Victoria Bakare & Grant Lewison, 2017. "Country over-citation ratios," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 1199-1207, November.
    25. Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Geuna, Aldo & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "What do We Know of the Mobility of Research Scientists and of its Impact on Scientific Production," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201508, University of Turin.
    26. Mahdi Khelfaoui & Julien Larrègue & Vincent Larivière & Yves Gingras, 2020. "Measuring national self-referencing patterns of major science producers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 979-996, May.
    27. Feng Li & Li Tang, 2019. "When international mobility meets local connections: Evidence from China," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 518-529.
    28. Zhao, Zhenyue & Bu, Yi & Kang, Lele & Min, Chao & Bian, Yiyang & Tang, Li & Li, Jiang, 2020. "An investigation of the relationship between scientists’ mobility to/from China and their research performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Geuna, Aldo & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "What do We Know of the Mobility of Research Scientists and of its Impact on Scientific Production," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201522, University of Turin.
    2. Liu, Meijun & Hu, Xiao, 2022. "Movers’ advantages: The effect of mobility on scientists’ productivity and collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    3. Gu, Jiangwei & Pan, Xuelian & Zhang, Shuxin & Chen, Jiaoyu, 2024. "International mobility matters: Research collaboration and scientific productivity," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    4. Valentina Tartari & Francesco Di Lorenzo & Benjamin A. Campbell, 2020. "“Another roof, another proof”: the impact of mobility on individual productivity in science," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 276-303, February.
    5. Laudel, Grit & Bielick, Jana, 2019. "How do field-specific research practices affect mobility decisions of early career researchers?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    6. Jingyi Zhao & Chunli Wei & Jiang Li, 2023. "Is the research performance of Chinese returnees better than that of their local counterparts?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 3091-3105, May.
    7. Shibayama, Sotaro & Baba, Yasunori, 2015. "Impact-oriented science policies and scientific publication practices: The case of life sciences in Japan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 936-950.
    8. Uhlbach, Wolf-Hendrik & Tartari, Valentina & Kongsted, Hans Christian, 2022. "Beyond scientific excellence: International mobility and the entrepreneurial activities of academic scientists," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    9. Han, Fang & Zhang, Ruhao & Zhang, Shengtai & Yuan, Junpeng, 2024. "International mobility characteristics, effects of, and effects on elite scientists," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    10. Carolina Cañibano & F. Javier Otamendi & Francisco Solís, 2011. "International temporary mobility of researchers: a cross-discipline study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(2), pages 653-675, November.
    11. Mohammadi, Ali & Broström, Anders & Franzoni, Chiara, 2015. "Work Force Composition and Innovation: How Diversity in Employees’ Ethnical and Disciplinary Backgrounds Facilitates Knowledge Re-combination," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 413, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Aldo Geuna & Sotaro Shibayama, 2015. "Moving Out Of Academic Research: Why Scientists Stop Doing Research?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-01, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Bäker, Agnes, 2015. "Non-tenured post-doctoral researchers’ job mobility and research output: An analysis of the role of research discipline, department size, and coauthors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 634-650.
    14. Marine Bernard & Bastien Bernela & Marie Ferru, 2021. "Does the geographical mobility of scientists shape their collaboration network? A panel approach of chemists’ careers," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 79-99, February.
    15. Geuna, Aldo & Kataishi, Rodrigo & Toselli, Manuel & Guzmán, Eduardo & Lawson, Cornelia & Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Barros, Beatriz, 2015. "SiSOB data extraction and codification: A tool to analyze scientific careers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(9), pages 1645-1658.
    16. Liyin Zhang & Yuchen Qian & Chao Ma & Jiang Li, 2023. "Continued collaboration shortens the transition period of scientists who move to another institution," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1765-1784, March.
    17. Broström, Anders, 2019. "Academic breeding grounds: Home department conditions and early career performance of academic researchers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1647-1665.
    18. Baruffaldi, Stefano H. & Di Maio, Giorgio & Landoni, Paolo, 2017. "Determinants of PhD holders’ use of social networking sites: An analysis based on LinkedIn," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 740-750.
    19. Yin, Xingbo & Zong, Xiaohua, 2022. "International student mobility spurs scientific research on foreign countries: Evidence from international students studying in China," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    20. Elizabeth A. Corley & Barry Bozeman & Xuefan Zhang & Chin-Chang Tsai, 2019. "The expanded scientific and technical human capital model: the addition of a cultural dimension," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 681-699, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International mobility; International collaboration; Academic performance; Research visibility; Knowledge spillovers;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bdj:smioir:2023-01. 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: Holly Crossley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/prmanuk.html .

    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.