Scientific mobility, prestige and skill alignment in academic institutions
Abstract
Abstract Scientific institutions play a crucial role in driving intellectual, social, and technological progress. Their capacity to innovate depends mainly on their ability to attract, retain, and nurture scientific talent and ultimately make it available to other organizations, industries, or the economy. As researchers change institutions during their careers, their skills are also transferred. The extent and mechanisms by which academic institutions manage their internal portfolio of scientific skills by attracting and sending researchers are far from being understood. We examine 25 million publication histories of 9.2 million scientists extracted from a large-scale bibliographic database covering thousands of research institutions worldwide to understand how the skills of mobile scientists align with those present in-house. We find a clear association between top-ranked institutions and greater skill alignment, i.e., the degree to which skills of incoming academics match those of their colleagues at the institution. We uncover similar high-alignment for scientists leaving top-ranked institutions. This type of academic alignment is more pronounced in engineering and life, health, earth, and physical sciences than in mathematics, computer science, social sciences, and the humanities. We show that over the past two decades, institutions generally have become more closely aligned in their overall skill profiles. We interpret these results in terms of levels of proactive management of the composition of the scientific workforce, diversity, and internal collaboration strategies at the institutional level.
Authors 4
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Leiden University · Stellenbosch University · Medical University of Vienna · Complexity Science Hub · Santa Fe Institute · National Research Foundation
Affiliation as printed
CSH Vienna
Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, 2333 BN Leiden Leiden, Netherlands
Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation of South Africa Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science Technology Innovation Policy (SciSTP), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 85701, United States
Section for Science of Complex Systems, CeMSIIS, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, A-1090, Austria
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
Leiden University
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Leiden University · Stellenbosch University · Medical University of Vienna · Complexity Science Hub · Santa Fe Institute · National Research Foundation
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University
Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, 2333 BN Leiden Leiden, Netherlands
Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation of South Africa Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science Technology Innovation Policy (SciSTP), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 85701, United States
Section for Science of Complex Systems, CeMSIIS, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, A-1090, Austria
CSH Vienna
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
-
Affiliation as printed
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
-
Leiden University · Stellenbosch University · Medical University of Vienna · Complexity Science Hub · Santa Fe Institute · National Research Foundation
Affiliation as printed
Complexity Science Hub
Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, 2333 BN Leiden Leiden, Netherlands
Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation of South Africa Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science Technology Innovation Policy (SciSTP), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 85701, United States
Section for Science of Complex Systems, CeMSIIS, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, A-1090, Austria
CSH Vienna
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
Leiden University
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