nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2014‒12‒24
five papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. Teaming up or writing alone - authorship strategies in leading Polish economic journals By Grażyna Bukowska; Jan Fałkowski; Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk
  2. Scholarly Publication and Collaboration in Brazil: The Role of Geography By Otavio Sidone; Eduardo Haddad; Jesus Mena-Chalco
  3. Keeping Researchers Honest: The Case for Sealed-Envelope-Submissions By Martin Dufwenberg; Peter Martinsson
  4. Academics’ Motivations and Depth and Breadth of Knowledge Transfer Activities By Roberto Iorio; Sandrine Labory; Francesco Rentocchini
  5. Closure in inter-regional knowledge networks: An application to the European co-publication network By Laurent Bergé

  1. By: Grażyna Bukowska (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Jan Fałkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw)
    Abstract: The returns to scientific collaboration have been widely acknowledged. The general trend observed in top scientific journals is an increase in collaborative activities both between researchers and between institutions, especially with regard to international co-authorship. Not only there is a growing number of papers written in co-authorship, but also there is an increase in the number of co-authors. In this paper, we investigate whether similar tendencies have emerged in the scientific community of economists in Poland. Using social network analysis, we focus on collaboration between researchers publishing in five leading Polish economic journals. We find that both the number of articles written in collaboration and average number of authors per article are steadily increasing. Yet, compared to what we observe in western economic journals, the scale of collaboration is modest. Furthermore, the increase in collaborative activity which we observe is not followed by a rise in collaboration with foreign co-authors.
    Keywords: oco-authorship network, Polish economic journals, collaboration strategies, scientific productivity
    JEL: I23 D85 Z13 D02
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2014-29&r=sog
  2. By: Otavio Sidone; Eduardo Haddad; Jesus Mena-Chalco
    Abstract: Brazilian scholarly outputs have had rapid growth that was accompanied by an expansion of domestic research collaboration. In this paper, we identify spatial patterns of research collaboration in Brazil, as well as measure the role of geographical proximity in determining the interaction among Brazilian researchers. Using a database comprised of over one million researchers and seven million publications registered in the Brazilian Lattes Platform, we collect and consolidate information on inter-regional research collaboration in terms of scientific co-authorship networks among 4,616 municipalities over the period between 1992 and 2009, which enabled a range of data analysis unprecedented in literature. The effects of geographical distance on collaboration are measured for different knowledge areas under the estimation of spatial interaction models. The main results suggest strong evidence of geographical deconcentration of collaboration in recent years with an increased participation of authors in scientifically less traditional regions, such as South and Northeast Brazil. Additionally, the distance still is significant in determining the intensity of knowledge flows in scientific collaboration networks in Brazil since the increase of 100 kilometers between two researchers implies the average reduction on 16% of the probability of collaboration and there is no evidence that its effect has diminished over time, although the magnitude of such effects varies among networks of different knowledge areas.
    Keywords: spatial scientometrics; scientific collaboration; co-authorship networks; spatial interaction models;
    JEL: R12
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p187&r=sog
  3. By: Martin Dufwenberg; Peter Martinsson
    Abstract: Because journals favor clear stories researchers’ may gain by engaging in scientific misconduct, ranging from shady practices like running more sessions hoping for significance to outright data fabrication. To set researchers’ incentives straight, we propose sealed-envelope submissions, where editors’ and referees’ evaluations are based only on the interest of the research question and on the proposed empirical method.
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:532&r=sog
  4. By: Roberto Iorio (Department of Economics and Statistics (DISES), University of Salerno); Sandrine Labory (Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara); Francesco Rentocchini (University of Valencia)
    Abstract: The debate on the entrepreneurial university has raised questions about what motivates academics to engage with industry as well as what forms these knowledge transfer activities can take. This paper analyses the relationship between different forms of motivations, namely mission (following the entrepreneurial mission of the university), learning (access to wider knowledge base for research enhancement) and funding (obtaining financial resources), and the depth and breadth of knowledge transfer activities, measured by the combination of various formal and informal activities and the frequency of interactions. The study is focused on the case of Italian academics but it covers all disciplines. We find that the learning motivation appears to be less important in Italy while mission and funding prevail, probably due to the peculiarities of the Italian industrial system and to the necessity for Italian academics to look for external funding sources for their research.
    Keywords: University-industry relations; joint research; collaborative research; commercialisation; entrepreneurial university; motivation
    JEL: I23 O32
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cme:wpaper:1410&r=sog
  5. By: Laurent Bergé
    Abstract: The question of the determinants of inter-regional knowledge flows has received a growing interest in the recent past. Particularly, the question of the relationship between geography and networks has been debated. Yet, at the inter-regional level, there is no study assessing the effect of networks on the the value of knowledge flows. This may come from the fact that methodological tools assessing network characteristics at the dyadic level are lacking for aggregated networks (such as the network of inter-regional knowledge flows). This paper aims to fill this gap and contribute to the debate on the determinants of knowledge flows. To do so we first define a new measure to assess 'network proximity' at the level of the regional dyad, based on the concept of inter-regional bridging path. Here a bridging path is a path at the micro-level between two regions via a third one. For instance, if an agent from region B has collaborated with an agent from region A and an agent from region C, then there is a bridging path between A and C via B. By using the information at the aggregated level, and assuming a 'random matching process' of the agents at the micro level, we are able to derive a closed form of the total expected number of bridging paths between two given regions. By the concept of triadic closure at the micro-level, the regional pairs having a high number of bridging paths should be more prone to collaborate. We then illustrate the measure theoretically defined by making use of co-publications data from chemistry journals for the period 2001-2005, within the five largest European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom). The studied network is then composed of all the regional pairs among 386 active NUTS3 regions. Using a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model along gravity equations, we then assess the effect of geographical distance, spatial contiguity and national borders. We also assess the effect of 'network proximity' by using the expected number of bridging paths as a proxy. As in previous studies, the effects of the geographical distance or the national borders are negative. But we show that the measure of 'network proximity' has a positive and significant effect. All the more, it also significantly alleviates the impeding effect of national borders on cross-countries collaborations, then suggesting that 'network proximity' is a channel favored for international collaborations.
    Keywords: network formation; gravity model; regional closure; aggregated networks; spatial proximity; network proximity; co-publication; research collaboration
    JEL: D85 O31 R12
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1498&r=sog

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