International collaboration
In November 2007 the Scottish Government published the results of two studies commenced under the previous administration on international research collaboration.
Both reports confirm that Scotland is a good performer on the international science and research scene and is very outward looking in this regard. These reports are useful in base lining our performance on increasing bilateral science links.
The Evidence report provides information on overall performance of the Scottish science and research base. It provides quantitative information on numbers of collaborations and their impact on Scottish and partner country collaborators' research. Its overall conclusions are that Scotland performs very well and gains a lot from collaboration although there are some areas which will need to be monitored or strengthened.
The SQW Report ( part 1 and part 2) provides information on how higher education institutions and other research sponsoring bodies collect information on their international collaborations. Institutions whilst generally good at establishing and maintaining international collaborations do not find it easy to collect data centrally to summarise such interactions. It provides information on current country collaboration links and reasons why researchers collaborate.
The Evidence study shows that:
Scotland is performing very well in terms of increasingly high levels of research collaboration which is also increasing in terms of quality. This value and performance is reflected in good and growing links with other countries.
- Scotland's research base collaborates extensively with a range of key countries and in key disciplines, and these links grew significantly over the period 1996- 2005.
- Research collaborations are beneficial in terms of increasing the impact of papers that are published jointly
- Scotland's research base collaborates more frequently than many other competitor countries
- Scotland generally gains from these collaborations and so do those nations we collaborate with. (N.B As might be expected, the average impact of internationally co authored work is significantly higher than the overall average There has been a net gain on impact for Scotland in many research fields between 1996 and 2005 as a result of collaboration )
- We are strengthening links across an increasing diversity of partner countries. We have good links with Europe, Canada and Australia and a sound platform of Biological science links with the US and should be an important contributor to the growth of the European Research Area.
- Scotland needs to grasp the opportunity for increased collaboration in new economies for example in China in Biological sciences. Lower rates of activity may be linked to a number of factors such as the development of science bases and support systems in other countries or to lack of specific funding opportunities with countries outside the EU.
The SQW study shows that:
- There is considerable willingness among research institutions to support the Scottish Government in obtaining and providing information on international collaborations, but
- They currently have no common approach to building, valuing or recording international collaborations
- Establishing a common database on international collaborations would require a new centrally-co-ordinated initiative with additional funding, a clear articulation of the benefits relative to costs and opportunity costs for Scotland, the institutions and the researchers, and the active involvement of the institutions themselves
(N.B The SQW study was undertaken in partnership with Universities Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. The Evidence study was undertaken by the company Evidence Ltd.)
Related Links
The UK Government published its first report on international science collaborations in June 2008.
The UK Research Councils published their first international strategy in 2008.