Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Regional and global collaborations for knowledge in German academia

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Review of Regional Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Universities’ role in the research system has undergone a significant change in recent years. Stand-alone strategies are continuously replaced by the pooling of resources and collaborations for knowledge. This is due to a rising complexity of scientific problems in conjunction with scarce budgets and reflects, among others, in an increasing number of co-authored papers, which are in the focus of this study.

Based on more than 125,000 articles, the paper presents general trends on the publication activities of German academia between 2000 and 2009 in a first step. Though both, the number of single- and co-authored papers increased rapidly in this period, the rising share of co-authored papers points to the growing importance of collaborations for knowledge.

Looking at co-authored papers only, local/regional and interregional/global partnerships seem to be equally important. While this is true for the whole sample, it could be assumed that the geographic distribution of partner differs with the universities’ reputation and orientation. Elite universities, for example, could be expected to publish more and more globally. Before this background the paper scrutinizes specific patterns of different types of universities in a second step.

The paper closes with an analysis of spatial proximity as a potential driver for collaborations among partners within a 1000 km circle of each university. Results are twofold. On the one hand, correlation coefficients for all considered partners confirm the generally increasing intensity of cooperation with declining distance. On the other hand, spatial proximity hardly matters for partners with a distance larger than 25 km but smaller than 475 km.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See Feldman (1999) for a review of empirical studies and section 2 for a more in-depth discussion of the relevant literature.

  2. Critical surveys of this literature which cover these and further issues are presented by Breschi and Lissoni (2001) or Döring and Schnellenbach (2006).

  3. A local buzz or noise (Grabher 2002) describes innovation benefits due to unintentional and serendipitous knowledge exchange which is facilitated through frequent face-to-face contacts, institutionally local embeddedness and “enhanced by shared socially constructed norms and conventions” (Feldman and Kogler 2010, p. 401). It generally refers to innovations of firms but might easily affect knowledge generation at universities as well. This is particularly true, if the local scientific community comprises several universities, public research centers and private foundations.

  4. A critical survey on different approaches to measure knowledge spillovers is given by Nelson (2009).

  5. Empirical findings based on the Web of Science database suggest that the universities’ performance in terms of publication records is similar to the output based on the Scopus database (Mittermaier 2011; Kowalski and Schaffer 2012). Thus, it could be carefully presumed that findings on co-authorship might be similar as well.

  6. The sample covers almost all public universities. Private universities, which play a minor role in the German system, remain unconsidered.

  7. There are three main counting methods, namely whole counting, fractional counting, and first author counting. Regarding whole counting, all unique countries, institutions or authors contributing to a publication get one credit. Using fractional counting, one credit is shared between the unique countries, institutions or authors with equal fractions to each participant. Last, first author counting means that one credit is given to the country to which the first author or institutional address belongs, to the institution first listed among the institutional addresses or to which the first author belongs, or to the first author (see Gauffriau et al. 2007).

  8. Some authors are affiliated with two institutions. In this case half weight is attached to both institutions.

  9. This is in contrast to the method of whole counting, where all unique countries, institutions or authors contributing to a publication get one credit (Schneider 2009).

  10. The number of clusters, which equals the number of partners at the beginning, is decreased step by step according to the Ward-approach. The method is formally concluded at the point, when all partners belong to one single cluster (in this case distance corridor 0–1000 km). However, the process can be stopped earlier, before a certain level of heterogeneity, defined as sum of squared deviations, is exceeded. At this point each region belongs to one out of k cluster of partners.

  11. We average to define the same frontier for local, regional and interregional partners for all years. However, the defined cut-off points do not reflect the exact arithmetic mean but the upper frontier of the corresponding 25 km distance corridor. This is due to the assignment of all partners into 25 km distance corridors at a later stage (see Chap. 4.3).

  12. Indeed the DFG is very skeptical about this trend which can be explained by the authors’ salami-slicing strategy. Important results are often published step by step in relatively short articles. According the DFG, scientists have a clear incentive to do so, as the number by far outweighs the quality of articles as a push for their scientific career (Warnecke and Burchard 2010).

  13. Three universities lost this status in 2012 after the third round but remain in the sample.

  14. With the Technical University Munich, the University of Munich and the University of Heidelberg the so-called Elite Universities also include the only three universities listed among the best 100 universities according the Shanghai Ranking.

  15. Collaborators within the distance of 1000 km are considered local, regional or interregional partners. Partners further away (here defined as global partners) are not considered, as spatial distance hardly matters beyond this range (Kowalski and Schaffer 2012).

References

  • Adams JD, Grant GC, Clemmons JR, Stephan PE (2005) Scientific teams and institutional collaborations: evidence from US universities, 1981–1999. Res Pol 34(3):259–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anselin L, Varga A, Acs Z (1997) Local Geographic spillovers between university research and high technology innovations. J Urban Econ 42:422–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Archibugi D, Coco A (2004) International partnerships for knowledge in business and academia: a comparison between Europe and the USA. Technovation 24(7):517–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asheim B, Coenen L (2006) Contextualizing regional innovations systems in a globalizing learning economy: on knowledge bases and institutional frameworks. J Technol Transf 31(1):163–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch DB, Stephan PE (1996) Company-scientist locational links: the case of biotechnology. Am Econ Rev 86(4):641–652

    Google Scholar 

  • Bathelt H, Malmberg A, Maskell P (2004) Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Prog Human Geogr 28:31–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bathelt H, Turi P (2011) Local, global and virtual buzz: the importance of face-to-face contact in economic interaction and possibilities to go beyond. Geoforum 42:520–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaver D deB, Rosen R (1978) Studies in scientific collaboration: part I. The professional origins of scientific co-authorship. Scientometrics 1(1):64–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Bercovitz J, Feldman MP (2011) The mechanism of collaborations in inventive teams: composition, social networks, and geography. Res Pol 40:81–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breschi S, Lissoni F (2001) Knowledge spillovers and local innovation systems: a critical survey. Ind Corp Change 10(4):975–1005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breschi S, Lissoni F (2006) Mobility of inventors and the geography of knowledge spillovers. New evidence on US data. KITeS Working Papers 184, Universita Bocconi, Milano, Italy

  • Camagni R (Ed) (1991) Innovation networks: spatial perspectives. Belhaven Press, London

  • Camisón C, Forés B (2011) The complementary effect of internal learning capacity and absorptive capacity on performance: the mediating role of innovation capacity. Int J Technol Manag 55:56–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Döring T, Schnellenbach J (2006) What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth? A survey of the literature. Regional Stud 40(3):375–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drejer I, Jørgensen BH (2005) The dynamic creation of knowledge: analysing public-private collaborations. Technovation 25(2):83–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison G, Glaeser EL (1999) The geographic concentration of industry: does natural advantage explain agglomeration? Am Econ Rev 89(2):311–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Englebrecht TD, Hanke SA, Kuang Y (2008) An assessment of patterns of co-authorship for academic accountants within premier journals: Evidence from 1979–2004, Adv Account 24(2):172–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falagas ME, Pitsouni EI, Malietzis GA, Pappas G (2008) Comparison of PubMed scopus, web of science, and google scholar: strength and weaknesses. FASEB J 22(2):338–342

  • Federal Statistical Office (2010) Ausgaben, Einnahmen und Personal der öffentlichen und öffentlich geförderten Einrichtungen für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Entwicklung, Fachserie 14, Reihe 3.6., Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden

  • Federal Statistical Office (2011) Bildung und Kultur, Personal an Hochschulen, Fachserie 11, Reihe 4.4., Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden

  • Feldman MP (1999) The new economics of innovation, spillovers and agglomeration: a review of empirical studies. Econ Innovat New Technol 8:5–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman MP, Kogler DF (2010) Stylized facts in the geography of innovation. In: Hall BH, Rosenberg N (eds) Handbook of the economics of innovation. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 381–410

  • Fung MK, Chow WW (2002) Measuring the intensity of knowledge flow with patent statistics. Econ Lett 74(3):353–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galsworthy MJ, Hristovski D, Lusa L, Ernst K, Irwin R, Charlesworth K, Wismar M, McKee M (2012) Academic output of 9 years of EU investment into health research. Lancet 380(9846):971–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauffriau M, Larsen PO, Maye E, Roulin-Perriard A, von Ins M (2007) Publication, cooperation and productivity measures in scientific research. Scientometrics 73(2):175–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gertler MS (1995) ‘Being there’: proximity, organization, and culture in the development and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies. Econ Geog 71(1):1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser EL, Kallal HD, Scheinknam JS, Shleifer A (1992) Growth in cities. J Pol Econ 100:1126–1152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glänzel W (1996) A bibliometric approach to social sciences. National research performances in 6 selected social science areas, 1990–1992. Scientometrics 35(3):291–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glänzel W, Schubert A, Czerwon HJ (1999) A bibliometric analysis of international scientific cooperation of the European Union (1985–1995). Scientometrics 45(2):185–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godin B, Gingras Y (2000) Impact of collaborative research on academic science. Sci Public Pol 27(1):65–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabher G (2002) The project ecology of advertising: tasks, talents and teams. Reg Stud 36(3):245–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter M (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. Am J Sociol 91(3):481–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hancock JT, Dunham PJ (2001) Impression formation in computer-mediated communication revisited. An analysis of the breadth and intensity of impressions. Comm Res 28(3):325–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helsley and Zenou (2014) Social networks and Interactions in cities. J Econ Theor 150:426–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoekman J, Frenken K, Tijssen RJW (2010) Research collaboration at a distance: changing spatial patterns of scientific collaboration within Europe. Res Pol 39:662–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Z, Lu X Duan H, Zhao C (2012) Collaboration-based medical knowledge recommendation, Artif Intell Med 55(1):13–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isaksen A (2005) Regional clusters building on local and non-local relationships: a European comparison. In: Lagendijk A, Oinas P (eds) Proximity, distance and diversity: issues on economic interaction and local development. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp 129–152

  • Jaffe AB (1989) Real affects of academic research. Am Econ Rev 79(5):957–970

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe AB, Trajtenberg M, Henderson R (1993) Geographic localization of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations. Quarter J Econ 108(3):577–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DK, Lybecker KM (2012) Does Distance matter less now? The changing role of geography in biotechnology innovation. Springer Rev Ind Org 40:21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kowalski J, Schaffer A (2012) Das Karlsruher Institut für Technologie – Impulsgeber für Karlsruhe und die TechnologieRegion. KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakitan B, Hidayat D, Herlinda S (2012) Scientific productivity and the collaboration intensity of Indonesian universities and public R & D institutions: Are there dependencies on collaborative R & D with foreign institutions? Technol Soc 34(3):227–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff L, Etzkowitz H (1996) Emergence of a triple helix of university-industry-government relations. Sci Public Pol 23:279–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukka K, Kasanen E (1996) Is accounting a global or a local discipline? Evidence from major research journals. Account Org Soc 21(7):755–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luukkonen T (1998) The difficulties in assessing the impact of EU framework programmes. Res Pol 27(6):599–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield E (1995) Academic research underlying industrial innovations: sources, characteristics and financing. Rev Econ Stat 77:55–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mascitelli R (2000) From experience: Harnessing tacit knowledge to achieve breakthrough innovation. J Prod Innov Manag 17(3):179–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey M, Alm H, Riccaboni M (2003) Does co-location matter for formal knowledge collaboration in the Swedish biotechnology-pharmaceutical sector? Res Pol 32(3):483–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyborg M (2013) The role of German universities in a system of joint knowledge generation and innovation, KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe

  • B (2011) Publizieren Spitzenunis mehr?, duz MAGAZIN 09/11

  • National Science Foundation (NSF) (2002) Science and engineering indicators 2002, US Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.

  • Nelson AJ (2009) Measuring knowledge spillovers: what patents, licenses and publications reveal about innovation diffusion. Res Pol 38(6):994–1005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilson A, Petterson I, Sandström A (2000) Knowledge production and knowledge flows in the Swedish biotechnology innovation system. Scientometrics 48(2):179–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pao ML (1992) Global and local collaborators: A study of scientific collaboration, Information Processing & Management 28(1):99–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter ME (2003) The economic performance of regions. Reg Stud 37:549–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schartinger D, Rammer C, Fischer MM, Fröhlich J (2002) Knowledge interactions between universities and industry in Austria: sectoral patterns and determinants. Res Pol 31(3):303–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmoch U (1999) Interaction of universities and industrial enterprises in Germany and the United States—a comparison. Ind Innov 6(1):51–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider JW (2009) An outline of bibliometric indicator used for performance-based funding of research institutions in Norway. Eur Pol Sci 8:364–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz M, Peglow F, Fritsch M, Günther J (2012) What drives innovation output from subsidized R & D cooperation?—Project—level evidence from Germany. Technovation 32(6):358–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott JW (2009) Europe of regions. In: Kitchin R, Thrift N (eds) International encyclopedia of human geography. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 649–657

  • Short J, Williams E, Christie B (1976) The social psychology of telecommunications. Wiley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • deSolla Price D (1963) Little science, big science. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Song M, Berends H, van der Bij H, Weggeman M (2007) The effect of IT and co-location of R & D staff on knowledge dissemination. J Prod Innov Manag 24(1):52–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson O (2003) Social networks and industrial geography, J Evol Econ 13(5):513–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephan PE (1996) The economics of science. J Econ Lit 34(3):1199–1235

    Google Scholar 

  • Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (2011) Allgemeine Entwicklung der Drittmittel. http://www.laendercheck-wissenschaft.de/drittmittel/drittmittel_allgemein/index.html. Accessed 7 May 2014

  • Storper M, Venables AJ (2004) Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy. J Econ Geogr 4(4):351–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson P, Fox-Kean M (2005) Patent citations and the geography of knowledge spillovers: a reassessment. Am Econ Rev 95(1):450–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tijsen RJW (2001) Global and domestic utilization of industrial relevant science: patent citation analysis of science-technology interactions and knowledge flows. Res Pol 30(1):35–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wainfan L, Davis PK (2004) Challenges in virtual collaboration, RAND corporation. Santa Monica

  • Waltman L, Tijssen RJW, van Eck NJ (2011) Globalisation of science in kilometres. J Informetrics 5(4):574–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward JH (1963) Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function, J Am Stat Assoc 58:236–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warnecke T, Burchard A (2010) Schluss mit der Salamitaktik, ZEIT ONLINE. http://www.zeit.de/wissen/2010-02/dfg-publikationen-forschung. Accessed 1 May 2014

  • Wong LH, Pattison P, Robins G (2006) A spatial model for social networks. Physica A 360(1):99–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang B, Huang Y, McDermott JE, Posey RH, Xu H, Zhao Z (2013) Interdisciplinary dialogue for education, collaboration, and innovation: intelligent biology and medicine in and beyond 2013. BMC Genomics 14: 1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu J (2013) Building world class universities: excellence initiative in Germany. J Int High Edu 6(3):101–104

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Pfizerstr. 1, 76139, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Mirja Meyborg

  2. Universität der Bundeswehr München, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577, Neubiberg, Germany

    Axel Schaffer

Authors
  1. Mirja Meyborg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Axel Schaffer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Axel Schaffer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Meyborg, M., Schaffer, A. Regional and global collaborations for knowledge in German academia. Rev Reg Res 34, 157–176 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10037-014-0087-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10037-014-0087-z

Keywords

JEL

Search

Navigation