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Map of scientific collaborations from 2005 to 2009 [4500x2250] [crosspost 'TheDaninator' from /r/dataisbeautiful] (imgur.com)

submitted ago by MarsTheGodofWar

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[–]ednorog 22 points23 points ago

Europe FTW! That's ma' continent!

[–]mantra 5 points6 points ago

So the US never collaborates with Asia?

[–]zull101 12 points13 points ago

My thought too. If you look closely at the extreme left of the map you can see links between Asia and the US, but this seems really low compared to the links between Europe and Asia.

[–]Rynyl 2 points3 points ago

What's going on in SE Brazil?

[–]Vilhermus 2 points3 points ago

Southeast concentrates half of the population and more than half of the gdp, the brightest spot is from the University of São Paulo, the biggest university in the biggest brazilian city (about 20 million inhabitants).

[–]Subotan 1 point2 points ago

Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre etc. Pretty much all of Brazil's wealth is concentrated in the south of the country.

[–]Rynyl 0 points1 point ago

Ah. I figured there was a special scientific study or something going on there.

[–]politicalanalysis -2 points-1 points ago

Rio!

[–]alttt 7 points8 points ago

Interesting facts you can see:

  • Science in France seems to be all around Paris.
  • Germans, Brits and Japanese seem to have the most intense cooperation (with others)
  • East Europe has a few spots but is basically isolated
  • Africa and South America (except Brazil) seem to have few cooperation (~ few published papers?)
  • Australia is (for me) surprisingly low
  • In the US cooperation is surprisingly fairly low or only within institutions - except the East Coast. But in return it is fairly spread out in the East, while the West only has three or so hot spots.
  • South Korea barely shows up. Japan on the other hand seems to be the research and/or cooperation hot spot of the globe.

[–]H_E_Pennypacker 0 points1 point ago

In the US cooperation is surprisingly fairly low or only within institutions - except the East Coast. But in return it is fairly spread out in the East, while the West only has three or so hot spots.

If you look at a population map for the US, this is not surprising. The east is way more populated

[–]s-u-i-p 1 point2 points ago

Africa and South America (except Brazil) seem to have few cooperation (~ few published papers?)

Probably has to do with the fact that there are fewer universities in those countries and because universities in the Global South usually and generally have much smaller budgets than their northern counterparts. That more than anything seriously stifles the scope for collaborative studies, which are more expensive to conduct than non-collaborative ones.

[–]Colt_H -5 points-4 points ago

I too just looked at the map.

[–]absoluteskeptic 7 points8 points ago

Odd. My observation: 90% of Japanese collaborations are with US institutions. China has become big, but only for outsourcing/manufacturing.

Perhaps scientific interaction between Europe and USA is so much bigger because of language and cultural expectations. Also, the Japanese are very inward looking/cliquish. Also, the government funds most everything... and the government wants that money to stay in the country. Finally, Japanese (and now Chinese) scientists have a bad rep of stealing and falsifying discoveries.

[–]crpearce 0 points1 point ago

it could also be argued that no one but europeans stand to gain from collaboration.

[–]absoluteskeptic 2 points3 points ago

Collaboration benefits everyone, although short term gains benefit those who have an asymmetrical advantage. The problem in Japan isn't just with educational institutions, it's the cultural and institutional inclination to reject outside influences. It makes the culture strong, but blinded to world events. The country then has to play catch up (Meiji Restoration and Post-WWII era are good examples). Japan is now in one of its inward looking stages, it will have a shock in about 20 years... going along with its (roughly) 100 year cycle.

Very few Japanese go to universities abroad. Plenty do exchange programs, but that isn't nearly the same. The reason is if one attends university outside Japan, then one is excluded from the job hunting ritual that occupies 10 months of one's senior year. If one doesn't get a job right after university from a good company or government job, then one is, more or less, excluded from climbing the ladder to become an elite. Society is very rigid and exceptions to the rule are excluded.

Scientists have a very hard time going overseas and coming back with decent employment opportunities. So, scientists are only willing to go overseas if it is tied to a position that is guaranteed when they come back to Japan. That is very limiting, and prevents relationship building.

[–]crpearce 5 points6 points ago

ugg.. you're missing the point... the absence of information on the map, is not the absence of research, it's the absence of research that facilitates communication with peers in another nation.

That is all. It's neither good nor bad, but this map is not enough information to make a determination of anyone's motive.

[–]absoluteskeptic 0 points1 point ago

True, information is lacking.

If I discover time travel and tell nobody, does it matter?

[–]ape_pants 4 points5 points ago

WWII Axis Powers ftw

[–]irrationaldive 1 point2 points ago

That is very interesting

[–]Julesssss 0 points1 point ago

I'm a bit late, but here's a zoomable and HD version of the map http://collabo.olihb.com/ and a jpg in HD http://collabo.olihb.com/collabolinks.jpg