Do the best scientists tend to be those that work together more on a global scale? The Italian University System: A Research Study1

Abstract

cooperation, especially international cooperation, is becoming more common in scientific research and is therefore attracting more attention and encouragement from policymakers. However, there are still open concerns about how internationalization at the level of individual researchers affects research output. The current effort aims to provide some answers to these issues by a bibliometric analysis of the complete Italian university population engaged in the hard sciences between 2001 and 2005. The findings reveal that academics who do better than their national peers tend to work with their peers overseas, but the converse is not always true. There are also notable variations among industries. Last but not least, one must discount the significance of the country's impact on the international alliance.