Following the tracks of a paper: origin, development and impact of the publications in international collaboration between Argentina and Spain

摘要

International collaboration is nowadays one of the central characteristics of the scientific activity and reveals the importance of interdisciplinarity and the formal and informal exchange of knowledge between the members of the scientific community. The knowledge and comprehension of the dynamics that originate and promote this collaboration can provide relevant information to increase its efficiency. A number of formal efforts to foster collaboration are part of an international positioning strategy in the scientific and technological policies of many countries. The most frequently used indicators to monitor this type of policies are bibliometrics. Nevertheless, there is a lack of qualitative information about the motivations, difficulties and benefits of the international collaboration from the perspective of the participants. To know more about these aspects, in the present study we propose a methodology in which papers in bilateral collaboration are studied understanding them not only as a "result" but as an integral part of a complex process, trying to analyze their origin and consequences.