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The Matthew effect in China’s science: evidence from academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Abstract
Utilizing a unique dataset of the Chinese Academy of Sciences academicians (1993-2013), this paper investigates the Matthew effect in China’s science. Three indicators, namely the concentration index, the Matthew index and the coefficient of variation, are adopted to measure the uneven distribution of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences among different regions and disciplines. The empirical analysis demonstrates the existence of the Matthew effect in China’s science for the above two dimensions. Yet, this effect has weakened for all regions with the exception of Beijing. We argue that this uneven distribution of the nation’s brightest minds makes scientifically competitive regions and disciplines even more competitive while putting those less developed regions and research domains at further disadvantage.
... Therefore, the phenomenon of 'the rich get richer and the poor get poorer' exists not only in economic area, but also in academia. We may thereby find that minor renowned scientists take a larger ratio of science publications (Khosrowjerdi et al. 2012), citations (Wang 2014;Tang et al. 2015), patent applications (Yang et al. 2015), as well as the science funding (Bol et al. 2018). ...
... This study investigates the Matthew effect of China's science funding allocation and reached the finding that the allocation disparity of science funding has been increasing in China. The Matthew effect exists not only among research institutes, universities (Zhi and Meng 2016), and regions (Yang et al. 2015), but also among scientists. Existing studies addressed the causes of the Matthew effect in scientific research from different aspects, like the economic factors from the regional dimension (Bonitz 2015;Yang et al. 2015), the aging factors from the individual dimension (Bol et al. 2018). ...
... The Matthew effect exists not only among research institutes, universities (Zhi and Meng 2016), and regions (Yang et al. 2015), but also among scientists. Existing studies addressed the causes of the Matthew effect in scientific research from different aspects, like the economic factors from the regional dimension (Bonitz 2015;Yang et al. 2015), the aging factors from the individual dimension (Bol et al. 2018). However, how interpersonal relationship that operates widely in China determines the allocation of science funding is not empirically studied. ...
To investigate either artificial or natural selection leads to the Matthew effect in the science funding allocation and its consequences, this study retrieves 274,732 publications by Chinese scientists from the Web of Science and examines how the disparity of science funding determines scientists' research performance. We employ the Negative Binomial Model and other models to regress the publication's citation times, which measures the research performance, on the number of funding grants and their amounts of currency that the publication receives, which measures the disparity of science funding. The empirical results suggest an inverted U-shaped relationship. However, the optimum number of funding grants far exceeds the actual number that most publications receive, implying that increasing the funding for academic research positively impacts scientists' research performance. The natural disparity thus plays a major role in distributing the science funding. Additionally, China's publication-based academic assessment system may be another main cause.
... On average, they have published fewer articles in both national and international venues, as well as fewer monographs (Shu et al., 2020). Yang et al. (2015)also reveals the existence of the Matthew Effect in China's science across both regional and disciplinary dimensions through a unique dataset of the Chinese Academy of Sciences academicians. However, no study has yet explored the Matthew Effect in China's SSH research, which is precisely what this study aims to do. ...
... Due to the institutionalized stratification in China's scholarly communication system, the Matthew Effect is significantly pronounced in the country's science research landscape. Yang et al. (2015) extensively studied this phenomenon, observing its existence across regional and disciplinary dimensions using a unique dataset from the Chinese Academy of Sciences academicians. Shu et al. (2021) also shed light on a clear stratification within the higher education system, where a small number of universities hold the majority of resources. ...
This paper investigates the concentration and dispersion phenomenon observed in China’s Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research. Our study presents an in-depth comparison and analysis of the number of papers published in the Chinese Social Sciences and Humanities Citation Index (CSSCI) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Citation Index (SSCI), including their source institutions, and the proportion of citations among elite and non-elite universities in China. Our findings are as following: (1) Over the past decade, the number of China’s SSCI papers has increased, while the number of CSSCI papers has decreased. Moreover, the ratio of papers published by elite universities to non-elite universities has decreased in SSCI while increased in CSSCI. (2) The comparison of ratios of elite and non-elite universities’ shares of publications indicated that the higher the journal level, the higher the ratio of elite and non-elite universities’ share. (3) When comparing the Herfindahl–Hirschman index value of higher education institutions, we noted a decreasing trend in SSCI while an increasing trend in CSSCI.
... There exists a Matthew effect for journals (papers from more prominent journals are more frequently cited at the expense of papers from other journals) and even a Matthew effect for papers in one journal (the papers of authors from some nations are more cited than the papers by authors from other nations) [114][115][116][117]. The Matthew effect exists even with respect to the scientific centers that produce winners of scientific degrees and awards [118] as well as in the peer review process [119]. A measure of the characteristics of scientific systems connected to the Matthew effect is the Matthew index. ...
... The Matthew index can be made more complicated in order to account for geographic areas [118] (e.g., in order to study the Matthew effect for academicians elected by the Chinese Academy of Sciences): ...
We discuss
several classical statistical laws that are important for understanding characteristics of research production and for its assessment. The statistical laws are grouped in such a way that the two much-used statistical approaches for the study of research systems and especially for the study of research publications (frequency approach and rank approach) are appropriately addressed. We begin with some remarks on the frequency and rank approaches to distributions and discuss why the frequency approach is much used in the natural sciences and the rank approach is widely used in the social sciences. Then the stable non-Gaussian distributions are described, and their importance for statistical methodology of research dynamics is emphasized. The laws of Lotka, Pareto, Zipf, Zipf–Mandelbrot, and Bradford are discussed from the point of view of their application to describing different aspects of scientific production. In addition to the discussion of statistical laws, we discuss two important effects: the concentration–dispersion effect (which reflects the separation of the researchers into a small group of highly productive ones and a large group of researchers with limited productivity) and the Matthew effect in science (which reflects the larger attention to the research production of the highly ranked researchers). In addition, we mention the invitation paradox (many papers accepted in highly ranked journals are not cited as much as expected) and the Ortega hypothesis (the big discoveries in science are supported by the everyday hard work of ordinary researchers). At the end of the chapter we discuss more general questions; relationships between the statistical laws and power laws as informetric distributions.
... In general citations suffer from the Mathew Effect or what is known as "the rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer." When it comes to citations, this implies that a highly cited paper is more likely to get cited compared to other papers (Yang et al., 2015). Citation . ...
This paper proposes a novel framework for evaluating research performance in university rankings, utilizing journal citation-based metrics and scholarly output instead of traditional article citation metrics. Through correlation analysis, we compare the proposed metrics with article citation metrics used by prominent ranking systems (THE and QS) and demonstrate significantly higher correlations with established rankings (QS, THE, and ARWU). The proposed metrics exhibit robustness over time and offer a fairer evaluation by emphasizing objective performance and mitigating citation biases. This framework provides institutions with a more accurate benchmarking tool to inform strategic decisions and resource allocation. While acknowledging potential limitations in data availability and the challenge of achieving global consensus, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on university rankings by advocating for a more equitable and robust evaluation system by balancing diverse metrics and offering more standardized measures.
... This hierarchical pattern is consistent with previous research examining other indicators of university performance, such as publications (Migheli & Zotti, 2020;X. Yang et al., 2015), citations (Teixeira da Silva, 2021; Wang, 2014), funding (Liao, 2021), and prestige (Halffman & Leydesdorff, 2010;Li et al., 2022). The existence of a distinct stratification among universities' labor market outcomes provides further evidence of the well-established concept of the "Matthew Effect" in science and academia (Merton, 1968( ...
Universities are now expected to actively contribute to socio-economic development, extending beyond their customary focus on teaching and research. Traditionally, the impact of universities on the labor market, measured through graduate employment, has been assessed using subjective survey data. This study proposes a quantitative framework that combines occupational mobility data with geographic factors to provide an objective evaluation of university labor market outcomes. Using data from 46,765 executives across 4,627 listed companies in mainland China, we developed a university–company mobility bipartite network. This network is weighted by both the number of executives and the geographic distances they cover. Through structural analysis of the network, we reveal the stratified and highly unequal influence of Chinese universities on the labor market. We also apply a PageRank centrality algorithm to rank universities and further compare them with established university rankings. The results indicated that our rankings highlighted the universities’ geographical influence and outcomes in the labor market. Our framework offers a reliable approach to assessing the societal impact of universities from a labor market perspective, improving and supplementing current university ranking systems.
... 1. In journals and at the scientific conferences, new articles and papers written by already eminent scientists on average receive more attention than articles and papers from other scientists regardless of the internals of such contributions (see, e.g., (Betancourt et al., 2023, Birkmaier & Wohlrabe, 2014, Bol et al., 2018, Liao, 2021, Perc, 2014, Tol, 2009, Wang, 2014, Yang et al., 2015). ...
The Matthew effect qualitatively describes the social phenomenon that the impact and recognition of well-known scientists for their new accomplishments are relatively overpriced by the scientific community when compared to the similar output of researchers without fame or status. We quantify the manifestation of this phenomenon in scientific research careers. For this purpose, using a mixed survey-plus-bibliometrics method, we assembled a dataset containing detailed career information on scientists in the field of chemistry. The mathematical model of the Matthew effect in scientific research careers proposed in this paper identifies career distribution as the generalized extreme value distribution with the shape parameter . This result is in good agreement with the obtained data: the empirical distribution of scientific careers can be approximated by the generalized extreme value distribution with . We also find that the distribution of starting positions of social trajectories of scientists fits by the Pareto distribution. Our analysis deepens scientific insight into the emergence of the Matthew effect in scientific careers and its relationship to the distribution of citations and citation entropy.
... This theory is similar to the well-known Matthew effect, which implies that famous scientists usually get more prestige compared with those who are not well-known, even if their achievements are similar. In the same way, reputation is usually given to those who are already well-known on a project [21], [22]. Thus, we will pay more attention to the young scholars with more initial productivity at the beginning of the life-course analysis. ...
The talents training is a critical issue of social development. Particularly, the growing of academic researchers in research-oriented university is a hot topic for human resources management. However, the challenge of how to achieve effective talent development with minimal macro-regulation is a challenge problem that has yet to be solved. As a school administrator, the allocation of talent project funding is a viable point of focus, although it is difficult to analyze because of the complexity structure of the universities. Inspired by the complex networks, we model the academic talents training problem in university as a multi-layer network in this paper, and the characteristics which may influence the development of faculty are investigated. Then, the development of each scholar is fitted by a growth curve in life-course pattern, based on which a research funding allocation scheme is proposed from the perspective of human resources managers. In the proposed scheme, the funding quotas of several levels are allocated to different colleges at the proper time in order to obtain the global optimization of talent training for the whole university. The simulation results show that the proposed funding allocation scheme can improve the final academic ability and the normalized score of outstanding scholars compared with the traditional proportion based allocation scheme.
... Previous studies have shown that the Matthew Effect functions like a double-edged sword, generating essentially opposite influences on scientists' behaviours. On the one hand, this effect distorts the scientific reward system (Strevens, 2006) and negatively influences innovation (Squazzoni & Gandelli, 2012) by placing more emphasis on scientific elites than other scientists (Yang et al., 2015). Therefore, scientific stratification is like a gap that is difficult to bridge, which makes certain scientists expend much effort to achieve recognition. ...
By collecting the publication data of scientists belonging to China’s Project 985 universities in the chemistry field and classifying the scientists into Distinguished Young Scholars (DYSs) and non-Distinguished Young Scholars (non-DYSs), this study constructed scientists’ ego research collaboration networks and compared the network differences between DYSs and non-DYSs, who usually occupy different structural positions in the science community. We employed three network indicators (degree centrality, betweenness centrality and tie strength) to measure the advantages related to network locations. Then, we investigated and compared DYSs’ and non-DYSs’ capability of using the social capital embedded in their research collaboration networks to improve their research performance. The results show that DYSs exhibit the better capability to use social capital from research collaboration networks and that their Ph.D. mentors may be a critical factor in scientific success. We further discussed the theoretical and practical implications at the end of this study.
... While previous studies attribute this Matthew Effect to the uneven distribution of scientific resources (Yang, Gu et al., 2015) or the bureaucratic administration in science (Shi & Rao, 2010), we argue that such cumulative advantages are rooted in the hierarchal structure of China's higher education system and its relationships with the political organization of the country. For example, university administrative ranks correspond to that of the government and, therefore, each administrative staff level, from department chair to university president, has its counterpart in the government. ...
To promote research excellence, China’s government has been offering substantial financial support for a small group of selected universities through three national research programs (Project 211, Project 985, Double First Class). However, admission to these programs may not be completely merit-based. Based on a statistical analysis of Chinese universities’ scientific activities, this paper shows that this institutionalized hierarchy is not supported by empirical data on research performance, which contributes to inequalities and inefficiencies in Chinese higher education. To build and maintain research capacity, China must support meritocracy across the research system.
... Over 80% of papers from China contain grant information, much higher than for other countries ( Figure S9). This implies that Chinese scientists are more obligated to acknowledge the funding agencies, or simply that only teams capable of securing research grants can efficiently conduct scientific research (Wang et al., 2012;Wang, Jones, & Wang, 2019;Yang, Gu, Wang, Hu, & Tang, 2015). Either of these explanations suggests the significant impact of funding agencies on scientific research in China. ...
Modern science is dominated by scientific productions from teams. A recent finding shows that teams of both large and small sizes are essential in research, prompting us to analyze the extent to which a country’s scientific work is carried out by big or small teams. Here, using over 26 million publications from Web of Science, we find that China’s research output is more dominated by big teams than the rest of the world, which is particularly the case in fields of natural science. Despite the global trend that more papers are written by big teams, China’s drop in small team output is much steeper. As teams in China shift from small to large size, the team diversity that is essential for innovative work does not increase as much as that in other countries. Using the national average as the baseline, we find that the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) supports fewer small teams than the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States does, implying that big teams are preferred by grant agencies in China. Our finding provides new insights into the concern of originality and innovation in China, which indicates a need to balance small and big teams.
... Wang et al., 2012;Y. Wang, Jones, & Wang, 2019;Yang, Gu, Wang, Hu, & Tang, 2015). Either of these explanations sufficiently demonstrate the significant impact of funding agencies on scientific research in China. ...
Modern science is dominated by scientific productions from teams. Large teams have demonstrated a clear advantage over small teams in applying for research funding, performing complicated research tasks and producing research works with high impact. Recent research, however, shows that both large and small teams have their own merits. Small teams tend to expand the frontier of knowledge by creating disruptive research outcomes, while large teams are more apt to work in the established field and develop existing problems. Given different roles of big and small teams in research, the extent to which a country's scientific work is carried out by big/small teams is of great importance. Here, we analyze over 26 million papers from Web of Science published from 2000 to 2017. We find that China's research output is more dominated by big teams than the rest of the world. It is indeed a global trend that more papers are done by big teams. However, the drop in small team output is much steeper in China. More importantly, as research teams in China shift from small to large size, the team diversity that is essential for innovative works does not increase as much as that in other countries. Papers by big teams tend to receive more citations, but this alone is insufficient to explain the dominance of big teams in China, because the citation boost is roughly the same in every country. However, using the national average as the baseline, we find that the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) supports fewer small team works than the National Science Foundation of U.S. (NSF) does, implying that big teams are more preferred by grant agencies in China. Our finding provides new insights into the concern of originality and innovation in China, which urges a need to balance small and big teams.
... Finally, it is recommended that governments at all levels should open up the investment field, and adopt effective policy incentives. In addition, the Matthew effect [66,67] shows that the leading places will take the lead, while the more backward places will lag behind, which explains why people usually invest in leading ports, rather than in backward ports. In order to improve this phenomenon, for leading ports, governments should give full play to the exemplary role of leading ports and offer help and support to backward ports; for backward ports, the state can give appropriate policy support, assisting with funds, projects, etc., to stimulate their internal initiatives. ...
Port development potential refers to the potential but unrealized status and capacity of ports, which can become a reality when external conditions permit. A correct analysis of port development potential helps to better formulate investment response plans and national development strategies, and finally achieve the sustainable development of the ports. Based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, basic port data, hinterland city data, traffic network data, and relevant economic and policy data, we constructed an evaluation index system of port development potential, and evaluated the development potential of eight representative ports in the Yangtze River Delta port group of China with the methods of FAHP-entropy (FAHP—Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process). The results show that: (1) The development potential of the port group in the Yangtze River Delta is positioned in the upper middle level; its development prospects are considerable, and other countries or ports could give priority of cooperation with it to maximize its benefits. (2) Port economy and policy are the primary core indicators affecting the development potential of ports, while per capita GDP (gross domestic product), number of berths, and port network status are the secondary core indicators affecting the development potential of ports. (3) Ports with larger development potential usually have one or more outstanding indicators, while the potential of ports with balanced development among all indicators is relatively weak.
... We use full counting in the analyses by discipline. professional researchers working in more than 100 institutes (Yang et al. 2015), and has been consistently ranked Social Sciences 4 , in the institution(s) list, the paper is coded as "Top institutions". Otherwise, it's coded as "Other institutions". ...
Contemporary scientific exchanges are international, yet language continues to be a persistent barrier to scientific communication, particularly for non-native English-speaking scholars. Since the ability to absorb knowledge has a strong impact on how researchers create new scientific knowledge, a comprehensive access to and understanding of both domestic and international scientific publications is essential for scientific performance. This study explores the effect of absorbed knowledge on research impact by analyzing the relationship between the language diversity of cited references and the number of citations received by the citing paper. Chinese social sciences are taken as the research object, and the data, 950,302 papers published between 1998 and 2013 with 8,151,327 cited references, were collected from the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index. Results show that there is a stark increase in the consumption of foreign language material within the Chinese social science community, and English material accounts for the vast majority of this consumption. Papers with foreign language references receive significantly more citations than those without, and the citation advantage of these internationalized work holds when we control for characteristics of the citing papers. However, the citation advantage has decreased from 1998 to 2008, largely as an artifact of the increased number of papers citing foreign language material. After 2008, the decline of the citation advantage subsided and became relatively stable, which suggests that incorporating foreign language literature continues to increase scientific impact, even as the scientific community itself becomes increasingly international. However, internationalization is not without concerns: the work closes with a discussion of the benefits and potential problems of the lack of linguistic diversity in scientific communication.
... We use full counting in the analyses by discipline. professional researchers working in more than 100 institutes (Yang et al. 2015), and has been consistently ranked Social Sciences 4 , in the institution(s) list, the paper is coded as "Top institutions". Otherwise, it's coded as "Other institutions". ...
Contemporary scientific exchanges are international, yet language continues to be a persistent barrier to scientific communication, particularly for non-native English-speaking scholars. Since the ability to absorb knowledge has a strong impact on how researchers create new scientific knowledge, comprehensive access to and understanding of both domestic and international scientific publications is essential for scientific performance. This study explores the effect of absorbed knowledge on research impact by analyzing the relationship between the language diversity of cited references and the number of citations received by the citing paper. Chinese social sciences are taken as the research object, and the data, 950,302 papers published between 1998 and 2013 with 8,151,327 cited references, were collected from the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index. Results show that there is a stark increase in the consumption of foreign language material within the Chinese social science community, and English material accounts for the vast majority of this consumption. Papers with foreign language references receive significantly more citations than those without, and the citation advantage of these internationalized work holds when we control for characteristics of the citing papers, such as the discipline, prestige of journal, prestige of institution, and scientific collaboration. However, the citation advantage has decreased from 1998 to 2008, largely as an artifact of the increased number of papers citing foreign language material. After 2008, however, the decline of the citation advantage subsided and became relatively stable, which suggests that incorporating foreign language literature continues to increase scientific impact, even as the scientific community itself becomes increasingly international. However, internationalization is not without concerns: the work closes with a discussion of the potential problems associated with the lack of linguistic diversity in scientific communication.
... In terms of the 'Institutes', the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is an institution directly under the State Council of China. In China, the CAS owns the greatest number of over 100 institutions, is the most prestigious research institution, and plays an important role in Chinese scientific research Yang et al. (2015). Ministries' and commissions' scientific research institutions (MCSRI) are the institutions under all the ministries and commissions under the State Council of China. ...
... Cao, 1998Cao, , 1999Kuhner, 1984;Yao, 1989). A stream of bibliometric work highlights the role of CAS in the recent growth of scientific publishing in China (Fu and Ho, 2013;Yang et al., 2014;Yang et al., 2015;Ye, 2010), while attention has been paid to recent CAS programme initiatives (Lu and Fan, 2010;Zhang et al., 2011). ...
This paper investigates interactions between institutional adaptation and the transformation of science and innovation systems by analysing change and adjustment in post-socialist science academies. Two leading examples are examined: the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). A heuristic framework of institutional change markers is applied to the analysis of nanotechnology research in both countries. We draw on bibliometric sources, interviews and secondary sources. We find that while the two Academies share a common past as the dominant research agents in their respective systems, their current positions and trajectories now differ. The nanotechnology case shows that CAS has adapted to China's modernisation, engaged in central government policy initiatives, and interacted with other research performers. CAS remains central to the Chinese research system, and has rejuvenated and expanded its resource base. RAS, on the contrary, has taken a protectionist stance: it still dominates the Russian research system and has a strong nanotechnology position, enforced by its gatekeeper control over journal publication. Nevertheless, RAS has faced difficulties in internal modernisation, leading to the external imposition of reforms and further role diminishment. The paper offers comparative insights into processes of institutional adaptation and highlights how key institutions can influence system transition.
When formulating a coordinated development strategy for a Multi-Airport System (MAS), it is necessary to consider discrepancies, such as sustainable development level measured by the green efficiency, among member airports. We are particularly interested in whether a so-called “Matthew effect” intensifies these discrepancies. A Matthew effect is a social phenomenon often linked to the idea that “the strong get stronger and the weak weaker”. To this end, we take the MAS in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region (China) as an example and use a super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model based on directional distance function to evaluate the green efficiency of 12 member airports from 2007 to 2019. On that basis, the traditional and spatial transition probability matrices are applied to investigate the Matthew effect with(out) spatial effect, respectively. Our analysis shows that: (1) the green efficiency of YRD MAS has an increasing trend, and the variation of efficiency has a decreased trend; (2) the reverse Matthew effect exists from the standpoint of airport efficiency; (3) a spatial effect has a significant impact on the degree of reverse Mathew effect, and depends on the efficiency types of neighboring airports; and (4) spatial aggregation effect of airports with same efficiency type is not conducive to airport efficiency improvement. We also provide some recommendations to improve airport green efficiency and add to coordinated development for the MAS.
The design of comprehensive collaboration strategies is important to improve academic output efficiently, and previous studies have focused on collaboration strategies considering internal social capital. However, internal social capital in teams with different academic output is not always the same. In this study, we expand the research team into a collaboration network, and try to analyse in high-output and low-put collaboration networks, how internal social capital affects the collaboration strategy’s impact on the academic output. Using the data collected from the NSFC, the results indicate that internal social capital enhances the impact of collaboration strategy on academic output in high-output collaboration networks, while internal social capital hinders this relationship in low-output collaboration networks. The findings provide some practical implications for leaders in designing collaboration strategies, and for government agencies in designing funding plans.
The use of artificial intelligence in a learning increasingly mediated through mobile technology makes inclusion problematic. This is due to the ubiquity of mobile technology, the complexity of the machine learning regimens needed to function within increasingly sophisticated 5G cellular networks, and the legions of professionals needed to initiate and maintain these AI and mobile ecosystems. The promise of artificial intelligence in inclusion is curtailed due to the accumulated advantage (the Matthew effect) presented in such a technological sophistication: only those with the most sophisticated of educational systems will stand to benefit, a scenario that poses significant impact on inclusion strategies increasingly mediated through ICT. Inclusion operates as an outlier in these data-driven environments: as an equitable model in education, it is designed to counter prevailing societal biases, rather than conforming to them. As more and more education is engaged through mobile technology and more and more of that mobile education is driven by an artificial intelligence emerging from curricula of greater and greater sophistication, a situation emerges that poses great challenges for any sort of meaningful inclusion, particularly in the potential acceleration of entrenched advantage. This chapter explores the problematic intersections of AI, mobile technology, and inclusion.
Co-authorship is used to measure scholarly collaborations of countries, institutions, and individuals. It refers to the process in which two or more authors or researchers collaborate with each other to create a joint-work through collaboration methods and channels. Although many studies have been conducted to analyze the individual or field co-authorships in Iran, a little have concerned the organisational co-authorships in this country. This study aims to analyze organisational co-authorships among Iranian top universities based on proximity rule and Matthew effect. Data were limited to published articles affiliated to top universities in Iran and extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The co-authorship matrix of these universities was shaped and their relationships were mapped. The "National Co-Authorship Index", which is the rate of scholarly co-authorships among universities of a country, was calculated. Results show that geographic proximity has important and strong role in co-authorships of Iranian top universities. Top universities tend to collaborate with universities of similar ranking and probably this result confirms the Matthew effect in the collaborations of Iranian top universities. Also, the role of collocation or proximity has been drawn on Iran map. Finally, some suggestions were made to improve the co-authorship system of Iranian universities.
There is increasing evidence that citations to Chinese research publications are rising sharply. A series of reasons have been highlighted in previous studies. This research explores another possibility—whether there is a “clubbing” effect in China's surge in research citations, in which a higher rate of internal citing takes place among influential Chinese researchers. Focusing on the most highly cited research articles in nanotechnology, we find that a larger proportion of Chinese nanotechnology research citations are localized within individual, institutional, and national networks within China. Both descriptive and statistical tests suggest that highly cited Chinese papers are more likely than similar U.S. papers to receive internal and localized citations. Tentative explanations and policy implications are discussed.
All references data was extracted from the annual volumes of the CD-Edition of Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Web of Science of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the journal citation and self-citation data extracted from the Journal Citation Report (JCR), the self-citing rate and self-cited rate calculated based on the JCR method. To determine the trend of mean value of references per paper throughout 1970–2005, a total number of 10,000 records were randomly chosen for each year of under study, and the mean value of references per paper was calculated. To determine the growth of journals IF a total number of 5,499 journals were chosen in the JCR in 2002 and the same set of journals in the year 2004. To show the trend of journals IF, all journals indexed in the JCR throughout 1999–2005 were extracted and the mean values of their IFs was calculated annually.
The study showed that the number of references per paper from 1970 to 2005 has steady increased. It reached from 8.40 in 1970 to 34.63 in 2005, an increase of more than 4 times. The majority of publications (76.17%) were in the form of Journals Article. After articles, Meeting Abstracts (9.46%), Notes (3.90%) and Editorial Material (3.78%) are the most frequented publication forms, respectively. 94.57% of all publications were in English. After English, German (1.50%), Russian (1.48%) and French (1.37%) were the most frequented languages, respectively.
The study furthermore showed that there is a significant correlation between the IF and total citation of journals in the JCR, and there is an important hidden correlation between IF and the self-citation of journals. This phenomena causes the elevation of journals IF. The more often a journal is citing other journals, the more often it is also cited (by a factor of 1.5) by others. In consequence the growing percentage of journal self-citation is followed by journal self-citedness, which can be considered as the Matthew Effect. There is a linear correlation between journal self-citing and journal self-cited value, the mean value of self-cited rate always stays higher than the self-citing rate.
The mean value of self-cited rate in 2000 was 14% and the mean value of self-citing rate is 6.61%, whereas the mean value of self-cited rate in 2005 was 12% and the mean value of self-citing rate was 7.81%.
In this paper newly established characteristics of the so-called Matthew Effect for Countries (MEC) are presented: field-dependency,
time-stability, order of magnitude. We find that the MEC is observable in all main scientific fields that were investigated.
Over fifteen years the MEC has been relatively stable. The MEC is a redistribution phenomenon at the macro-level of the sciences.
Its magnitude is small; the MEC affects only about five percent of the world production of citations. The MEC, however, crucially
impacts many nations when their “national loss of citations” amounts to a high percentage of their expected citations. The
relationship between the MEC and Merton's Matthew Principle is discussed. It is our hypothesis that the MEC provides an additional
approach for the assessment of the scientific performance of nations.
What are the boundary conditions of the Matthew Effect? In other words, under what circumstances do initial status differences result in highly skewed reward distributions over the long run, and when, conversely, is the accumulation of status-based advantages constrained? Using a formal model, we investigate the fates of actors in a contest who start off as status-equivalents, produce at different levels of quality, and thus come to occupy distinct locations in a status ordering. We build from a set of equations in which failing to observe cumulative advantage seems implausible and then demonstrate that, despite initial conditions designed to lead inevitably to status monopolization, circumstances still exist that rein in the Matthew Effect. Our results highlight the importance of a single factor governing whether the Matthew Effect operates freely or is circumscribed. This factor is the degree to which status diffuses through social relations. When actors’ status levels are strongly influenced by the status levels of those dispensing recognition to them, then eventually the top-ranked actor is nearly matched in status by the lower-ranked actor she endorses. In contrast, when actors’ status levels are unaffected by the status levels of those giving them recognition, the top-ranked actor amasses virtually all status available in the system. Our primary contribution is the intuition that elites may unwittingly and paradoxically destroy their cumulative advantage beneath the weight of their endorsements of others. Consequently, we find that the Matthew Effect is curtailed by a process that, at least in some social settings, is a property of status itself - its propensity to diffuse through social relations. Implications for future research are discussed.
This paper examines the rapid growth of China in the field of nanotechnology and the rise of collaboration between China and
the US in this emerging domain. Chinese scientific papers in nanotechnology are analyzed to indicate overall trends, leading
fields and the most prolific institutions. Patterns of China–US nanotechnology paper co-authorship are examined over the period 1990–2009, with an analysis of how these patterns have
changed over time. The paper combines bibliometric analysis and science mapping. We find rapid development in the number of
China–US co-authored nanotechnology papers as well as structural changes in array of collaborative nanotechnology sub-fields. Implications
for both China and the US of this evolving relationship are discussed.
The reward and communication systems of science are considered.
To explore the rules of knowledge transfer and application activities in knowledge space, defined at both temporal and spatial scales, the present study employs a unique dataset of Chinese patent licensing during the period of 2000–2012, with a total of 91,551 patents. Our results indicate that 70 % of patents were licensed out in the first 3 years. As time elapses, the annual average technology age decreases. There is a moderate difference among different types of licensors and patent types but not technology domains. With regards to the spatial dimension, 86 % of patents were licensed out within 1,000 km. The annual average geographical distance exhibits the same trend as technology age. Except for technology domains, a moderate difference among licensors and patent types is observed. Moreover, the interaction between geographical distance and technology age shows that as the technology age increases, this technology appears to be transferred and applied over greater distances.
One problem confronting the use of citation-based metrics in science studies and research evaluations is the Matthew effect. This paper reviews the role of citations in science and decomposes the Matthew effect in citations into three components: networking, prestige, and appropriateness. The networking and prestige effects challenge the validity of citation-based metrics, but the appropriateness effect does not. Using panel data of 1279 solo-authored papers’ citation histories and fixed effects models, we test these three effects controlling for unobserved paper characteristics. We find no evidence of retroactive networking effect and only weak evidence of prestige effect (very small and not always significant), which provides some support for the use of citation-based metrics in science studies and evaluation practices. In addition, adding the appropriateness effect reduces the size of the prestige effect considerably, suggesting that previous studies controlling for paper quality but not appropriateness may have overestimated the prestige effect.
We set out in the present study to examine 1997–2007 data on inventors, based upon country of residence, and on the process of co-invention, with the ultimate aim of undertaking analysis of the main partner countries currently collaborating with China in global technological production. Through our focus on China, we are able to demonstrate the evolving trend towards the establishment of collaborative patenting networks within an emerging market. In addition to exploring the pattern of joint international inventions, we link the patent data to other macro-economic factors for empirical analysis. Our results indicate that the relative manufacturing strength, the international trade exposure, and the respective economy standing have positive effect on the propensity for engaging in such international co-invention activities.
Public policy plays a key role in supporting R&D activities and a variety of policy tools have been applied to contrast the undersupply of technological knowledge including the provision of subsidies to private firms performing R&D activities. A large literature has identified the sources of ‘government failures’ in discretionary procedures in problems related to asymmetric information and the operation of interest groups. This paper explores the causes and effects of persistence in the discretionary allocation of public subsidies to R&D activities performed by private firms and elaborates a crucial distinction between vicious Matthew-effects and virtuous Matthew-effects. The latter identifies the role of dynamics increasing returns based upon accumulation of competence stemming from learning, learning to learn and knowledge cumulability. On the contrary vicious Matthew-effects lead to substitution of private funds with public ones and represent an additional source of ‘government failure’ which has not been specifically addressed by previous literature. The empirical analysis based upon Transition Probability Matrices, Probit regression and Propensity Score Matching tested the relevance of these arguments on a sample of about 750 Italian firms in the years 1998-2003. Our results show that the persistence in the discretionary allocation of public subsidies is relevant and that virtuous Matthew-effects prevail when a ‘picking the winner strategy’ is adopted by granting authorities. We conclude that while the decision to rely on discretionary incentives based on beauty context selection procedures may imply relevant costs, their benefits can be increased by pursuing a ‘picking the winner strategy
Robert Merton observed that better known scientists tend to get more credit than less well known scientists for the same achievements; he called this the Matthew effect. Scientists themselves, even those eminent researchers who enjoy its benefits, regard the effect as a pathology: it results, they believe, in a misallocation of credit. If so, why do scientists continue to bestow credit in the manner described by the effect? This paper advocates an explanation of the effect on which it turns out to allocate credit fairly after all, while at the same time making sense of scientists’ opinions to the contrary.
HE SUBJECT OF THIS ESSAY is a problem in the sociology of science that has long been of interest to me. That problem, a candid friend tells me, is somewhat obscured by the formidable title assigned to it. Yet, properly deci- phered, the title is not nearly as opaque as it might at first seem. Consider first the signal emitted by the Roman numeral II in the main title. It informs us that the paper follows on an earlier one, "The Matthew Effect in Science, " which I finally put into print a good many years ago.' The ponderous, not to say lumpy, subtitle goes on to signal the direction of this follow-on. The first concept, cumulative advantage, applied to the domain of science, refers to the social processes through which various kinds of opportunities for scientific inquiry as well as the subsequent symbolic and material rewards for the results of that inquiry tend to accumulate for individual practitioners of science, as they do also for organizations engaged in scientific work. The concept of cumulative advantage directs our attention to the ways in which initial comparative advan- tages of trained capacity successive increments of 7 s
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We examine the attributes of technological inventions that influence their commercialization. Using a unique dataset of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-licensed patents, we show that the likelihood of invention commercialization, which we measure by the achievement of first sale, is positively associated with two characteristics of licensed technological inventions—scope and pioneering nature—and has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the age of the invention. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Authors of the well-regarded Annual Reviews series incorporate URLs to in the text, figures, tables, and reference sections of their articles. Despite the lack of peer
review, the number of pointers to scientific information on the World Wide Web in the biomedical and physical science reviews
increased five fold between 1997 and 2001. However, only 34% and 76% of the URLs from 1997 and 2001, respectively, remain
viable in 2003. This is disconcerting as the stability of the highly cited Annual Reviewsseries is integral to the flow of scientific information. In fact, the citation rate for the URL containing Annual Reviewsarticles was found to be less than half that observed for all the review articles analyzed. Taken together these data suggest
that the viability of web information may influence the citation rate of authors who have previously basked in the halo of
R. K. Merton's Matthew Effect.
We consider the "Matthew effect" in the citation process which leads to reallocation (or misallocation) of the citations received by scientific papers within the same journals. The case when such reallocation correlates with a country where an author works is investigated. Russian papers in chemistry and physics published abroad were examined. We found that in both disciplines in about 60% of journals Russian papers are cited less than an average one. However, if we consider each discipline as a whole, citedness of a Russian paper in physics will be on the average level, while chemistry publications receive about 16% citations less than one may expect from the citedness of the journals where they appear. Moreover, Russian chemistry papers mostly become undercited in the leading journals of the field. Characteristics of a "Matthew index" indicator and its significance for scientometric studies are also discussed.
Summary Actually the Matthew effect for countries (MEC) was discovered at Holy Eve 1994. Since then more than 30 papers of mine - many of them together with Andrea Scharnhorst and Eberhard Bruckner - appeared in journals or were read at conferences of international and national scientific societies. It is not the task of this paper to present a bibliometric analysis of those paper’s impact, nor to give any detailed historical description of the surprising findings following the discovery, I’d rather try to unfold - from the heightened standpoint of our days - a new summary of the Matthew phenomenon, because I am convinced it will not lose its fascination and importance in the years to come.
China is becoming a leading nation in terms of its share of the world’s publications in the emerging nanotechnology domain.
This paper demonstrates that the international rise of China’s position in nanotechnology has been underwritten by the emergence
of a series of regional hubs of nanotechnology R&D activity within the country. We develop a unique database of Chinese nanotechnology
articles covering the period 1990 to mid-2006 to identify the regional distribution of nanotechnology research in China. To
build this database, a new approach was developed to clean and standardize the geographical allocation of Chinese publication
records. We then analyze the data to understand the regional development of nanotechnology research in China over our study
period and to map interregional and international research collaboration linkages. We find that the geographical distribution
of China’s domestic nanotechnology research is characterized by regional imbalance, with most of the leading regions located
in eastern China, including not only Beijing and Shanghai but also a series of other new regional hubs. There is much less
development of nanotechnology research in central and western China. Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are among the leading
Chinese regions for international nanotechnology research collaboration. Other Chinese nanotechnology regions are less focused
on international collaboration, although they have developed domestic interregional collaborations. Although new regional
research hubs have emerged in the nanotechnology domain, the paper notes that their concentration in eastern China reinforces
existing imbalances in science and technology capabilities in China, and in turn this may further reinforce the dominant position
of eastern China in the commercialization of new technologies such as nanotechnology.
This account of the Matthew effect is another small exercise in the psychosociological analysis of the workings of science as a social institution. The initial problem is transformed by a shift in theoretical perspective. As originally identified, the Matthew effect was construed in terms of enhancement of the position of already eminent scientists who are given disproportionate credit in cases of collaboration or of independent multiple discoveries. Its significance was thus confined to its implications for the reward system of science. By shifting the angle of vision, we note other possible kinds of consequences, this time for the communication system of science. The Matthew effect may serve to heighten the visibility of contributions to science by scientists of acknowledged standing and to reduce the visibility of contributions by authors who are less well known. We examine the psychosocial conditions and mechanisms underlying this effect and find a correlation between the redundancy function of multiple discoveries and the focalizing function of eminent men of science-a function which is reinforced by the great value these men place upon finding basic problems and by their self-assurance. This self-assurance, which is partly inherent, partly the result of experiences and associations in creative scientific environments, and partly a result of later social validation of their position, encourages them to search out risky but important problems and to highlight the results of their inquiry. A macrosocial version of the Matthew principle is apparently involved in those processes of social selection that currently lead to the concentration of scientific resources and talent (50).
This paper calculates indices of central bank autonomy (CBA) for 163 central banks as of end-2003, and comparable indices for a subgroup of 68 central banks as of the end of the 1980s. The results confirm strong improvements in both economic and political CBA over the past couple of decades, although more progress is needed to boost political autonomy of the central banks in emerging market and developing countries. Our analysis confirms that greater CBA has on average helped to maintain low inflation levels. The paper identifies four broad principles of CBA that have been shared by the majority of countries. Significant differences exist in the area of banking supervision where many central banks have retained a key role. Finally, we discuss the sequencing of reforms to separate the conduct of monetary and fiscal policies. IMF Staff Papers (2009) 56, 263–296. doi:10.1057/imfsp.2008.25; published online 23 September 2008
This paper claims that knowledge-relatedness is a key factor in affecting firms' technological diversification. The hypothesis is tested that firms extend the range of their innovative activities in a non-random way. Specifically, we test the extent to which firms diversify their innovative activities across related technological fields, i.e. fields that share a common knowledge base and rely upon common heuristics and scientific principles. The paper proposes an original measure of knowledge-relatedness, using co-classification codes contained in patent documents, and examines the patterns of technological diversification of the whole population of firms from the United States, Italy, France, UK, Germany, and Japan patenting to the European Patent Office from 1982 to 1993. Robust evidence is found that knowledge-relatedness is a major feature of firms' innovative activities.
Is there Matthew effect in international collaboration of mechanics research
- L X Chen
- L M Liang
- Z Y Liu
- LX Chen
Chen, L. X., Liang, L. M., & Liu, Z. Y. (2006). Is there Matthew effect in international collaboration of
mechanics research. Science of Science and Management of S. & T, 27(8), 12-16. 43 (in Chinese).
The Matthew effect in Chinese academy of science academician election: A case study of academician election of
- S W Chen
- F Xu
- SW Chen
Chen, S. W., & Xu, F. (2011). The Matthew effect in Chinese academy of science academician election: A
case study of academician election of 2001-2009. Studies in Science of Science, 29(1), 37-43. (in
Chinese).
The Matthew effect in academic papers: Based on analysing annual CSSCI demographic journals in 2009
- J W Hou
- S L Huang
- C Liu
- JW Hou
Hou, J. W., Huang, S. L., & Liu, C. (2011). The Matthew effect in academic papers: Based on analysing
annual CSSCI demographic journals in 2009. Population and Development, 17(5), 96-100. (in
Chinese).
Evolution of temporal and spatial pattern and driving mechanisms of agglomerative growth of senior science talents: A case study of academicians of CAS
- R Li
- D T Wu
- J Bao
- Y Qiu
- W Wang
Li, R., Wu, D. T., Bao, J., Qiu, Y., & Wang, W. (2013). Evolution of temporal and spatial pattern and
driving mechanisms of agglomerative growth of senior science talents: A case study of academicians
of CAS. Progress in Geography, 32(7), 1123-1138. (in Chinese).
Study on Matthew effect in national hi-tech zones in China and spatial layout of national innovation demonstration zones
- S Wang
- S H Hu
Wang, S., & Hu, S. H. (2011). Study on Matthew effect in national hi-tech zones in China and spatial layout
of national innovation demonstration zones. China Soft Science Magazine, 3, 97-105. (in Chinese).