An in-depth analysis of government funding and international collaboration in scientific research

Based on publications indexed in the Web of Science, the current study focused on internationally collaborated publications and publications acknowledging government funding of developing and developed countries including China, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Brazil. Specific focus is placed on national funding agencies (i.e., focal agencies) supporting competitive research in science. The focal agencies of the six countries include the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), German Research Foundation, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil (CNPq). Results show that different countries vary in arrangement of government funding sources in support of competitive research projects. China and Brazil are centralized to the NSFC and CNPq, whereas the remaining four countries have relatively decentralized sources. The six focal national funding agencies of the current study are more efficient than non-focal agencies in raising citation impact, with the NWO, NSF, and NSFC perform better than non-focal agencies of corresponding countries. International collaboration improves citation impact, with the developing countries benefit more. Authorship (first or corresponding authorship) also plays a role in international collaboration. Collaboration led by authors from developed countries has a positive effect whereas that led by authors from developing countries usually have negative effects on citation impact. Interaction between funding and collaboration may have results different from those when these two factors are considered separately, which suggests being cautious while discussing effects of either of the two factors.