A global perspective on social stratification in science
Akbaritabar, Aliakbar (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research)
Castro Torres, Andrés F (Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics)
Larivière, Vincent (Université de Montréa)
Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics

Date:	2024
Description:	10 pàg.
Abstract:	To study stratification among scientists, we reconstruct the career-long trajectories of 8. 2 million scientists worldwide using 12 bibliometric measures of productivity, geographical mobility, collaboration, and research impact. While most previous studies examined these variables in isolation, we study their relationships using Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis. We group authors according to their bibliometric performance and academic age across six macro fields of science, and analyze co-authorship networks and detect collaboration communities of different sizes. We found a stratified structure in terms of academic age and bibliometric classes, with a small top class and large middle and bottom classes in all collaboration communities. Results are robust to community detection algorithms used and do not depend on authors' gender. These results imply that increased productivity, impact, and collaboration are driven by a relatively small group that accounts for a large share of academic outputs, i. e. , the top class. Mobility indicators are the only exception with bottom classes contributing similar or larger shares. We also show that those at the top succeed by collaborating with various authors from other classes and age groups. Nevertheless, they are benefiting disproportionately from these collaborations which may have implications for persisting stratification in academia.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021BP00027
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Vol. 11 (July 2024) , ISSN 2662-9992

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03402-w

11 p, 3.0 MB

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