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Australian researchers collaborate to a
much greater extent with colleagues in the US than any other
country—between 1981 and 1995 about 40 per cent of the Australian papers
had American researchers as collaborators. But some subtle changes are taking
place, as revealed by data from Paul Bourke, a social scientist at the
Australian National University. Bourke told a recent gathering in Sydney
organised by the British Council and the University of Sydney, that the
percentage of papers with co-authors from North America, mainly the US, is
slipping. The same is happening with the UK and Ireland. “The slippage is only a
few percentage points,” said Bourke, “but it is a definite downward trend over
the period 1981-1995.” Edging up is collaboration with Europe, especially
Germany and France, and with Asia, especially China and Japan. Data from Ben
Martin from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex
revealed other interesting trends. Researchers from UK universities are
collaborating slightly less than they were 15 years ago with Australian
researchers and they too are looking more towards Europe. But collaboration with
Australian researchers remains relatively high in disciplines such as maths and
agriculture when compared to UK collaboration in Europe. UK collaboration with
Australia is lowest in the areas where it is high with western
Europe—physics and chemistry are the best examples. “We’re not sure what
to make of these trends,” said Bourke, “but policy makers need to be aware of
them.”