Knowledge about Sino-Swiss international scientific collaboration: an analysis of twenty years co-authorship in two databases

Working paper

Within the broader context of Sino-European relations, China and Switzerland have maintained continuous bilateral relations and historical ties since 1950. Despite these longstanding connections, the knowledge patterns of scientific collaboration between the two nations, remain largely unexplored. This research contributes to the global science discourse by focusing on the previously unexplored collaborative relationship between China and Switzerland and offers a deeper understanding of scientific knowledge in international collaborations by incorporating and examining data from a domestic Chinese database. Addressing the unevenness between global and local, this study utilizes publication counts, corresponding authorships and disciplinary classifications as indicators to identify patterns, similarities, and differences in disciplinary knowledge pertaining to international collaborations, as presented in the science knowledge databases. Data from Weipu (VIP), a domestic Chinese scientific database and Web of Science (WoS), an international database, spanning the years 2001-2021, serve as the basis for this analysis. Key findings highlight significant divergence in the number of collaborative papers indexed across various databases, suggesting potential marginalization of specific collaborations. Additionally, China emerges as the predominant contributor, represented by the corresponding author, in collaborative endeavors with Switzerland. Lastly, evidence of marginalized knowledge is manifested within the disciplinary field, suggesting the presence of certain disciplinary biases. Collaborations in specific fields such as Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences, and Built Environment and Design, tend to be published more in Chinese database, thereby garnering greater recognition locally. Conversely, physics publications are comparatively less prevalent in Chinese databases and markedly rare in the context of Sino-Swiss collaborative research.

Authors: Wang, X

• Publication status: Published
• Publisher: Centre for Global Higher Education, University of Oxford
• Series: Centre for Global Higher Education Working Paper series
• Place of publication: Oxford
• Publication date: 2024-04-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-1rqpd7qq5
• EISSN: 2398-564X
• Paper number: 113
• Language: English
• Keywords: co-authorship; knowledge about science; languages; disciplines; international scientific collaboration