The frequencies of multinational papers in various sciences

摘要: Multinational papers are defined here as ones written by authors who reside in different countries during the course of research. For each 16 fields science, I scanned first 200 2005 four major journals publishing original research papers. Those produced 40% all citations among those with Impact Factors greater than 1.0. The frequencies multinational ranged from 13% surgery to 55% astronomy. Although one can list a dozen factors which might contribute toward papers, lack data test most those. There only minor correlations team sizes and Factors, inadequate explain range. is larger, but not convincing, dependence upon fractions single-author its cause, if real, unclear. However, prominent factor seems be nature objects studied; they usually local (e.g. hospital or laboratory), tend domestic available simultaneously scientists many sky astronomy oceans Earth’s atmosphere geosciences widespread diseases area infectious plants animals widely distributed biology), often international. Auxiliary results for an average 5.5 ± 0.3 per paper 6.6 1.0% one-author