Benefits beyond the local network: Does indirect international collaboration ties contribute to research performance for young scientists?

Abstract

This study examines how the research performance of young scientists is influenced by indirect international collaboration ties formed through domestic collaborators with transnational academic connections. Based on a comprehensive dataset of 8,341,013 young scientists worldwide from the Scopus database covering 2000–2020, we employ a variety of methods to confirm that young scientists with a higher density of indirect international collaboration ties achieve significantly greater research productivity and prominence. Facilitating international knowledge spillover and nurturing new collaboration ties beyond local networks are important mechanisms through which indirect international collaboration ties exert positive impacts. Moreover, the positive effect of indirect international collaboration ties is enhanced when young scientists share sufficient cognitive proximity with foreign partners amongst their domestic collaborators. The impact of indirect international collaboration ties also shows significant heterogeneity, with particular benefits observed for natural scientists, males, and scientists from underdeveloped countries. These results underscore that transnational academic connections held by domestic collaborators constitute a vital form of academic social capital, facilitating the integration of young scientists into global academic networks and consequently enhancing their research performance.