The impact of internationalization on research performance

Internationalization is a prominent topic at universities and in politics, but the academic and political agendas are not always aligned. Internationalization in universities can take many forms, such as international students and staff as well as collaboration with researchers across borders.

Here, we share the findings of a new Elsevier report that addresses international research collaboration using the Netherlands as an example. Using Elsevier's Scopus database, we investigated the research performance of the Netherlands and its success factors. The Netherlands as a Science Nation(opens in new tab/window) is based on an analysis of 350,000 articles by 200,000 authors from the Netherlands from 2018 to 2022.

The bottom line is that the Netherlands is a champion in international collaboration, and it is these cross-border partnerships that are crucial to the outstanding impact of Dutch science worldwide.

This study is part of a series of research impact reports Elsevier has released over the years, including the international report Pathways to Net Zero and Netherlands-focused reports on biodiversity(opens in new tab/window) and Amsterdam’s competitive advantage(opens in new tab/window). While Elsevier is a leading international corporation and the world’s largest scientific publisher, our roots are firmly planted in the Netherlands, with our headquarters in Amsterdam employing about 1,000 people, and our inspiration and namesake being the 17^th-century Elzevir publishing house in Leiden. Therefore, it is fitting that Elsevier can contribute to Dutch science, not only through our publications and the unique open science partnership we have in the Netherlands, but also through reports like this one, based on Elsevier data and data analyses.

International collaboration around the globe

Let’s take a closer look at international scientific collaboration. For instance, when research is conducted by a Japanese researcher in collaboration with one or more scientists from outside Japan, it is considered international scientific collaboration. Of course, when you’re a scientist from a large nation, you have many potential collaboration partners in your own country, unlike researchers in smaller nations. But even between research powerhouses China and the United States, we see significant differences, as shown in the figure above.

China comes in at 22%, while the US has 36% of international collaborations — quite a large difference. Russia and India also score low here, while the European Union (EU27) is even more international than the US at 43%. The UK and Australia are far more international, with percentages close to 60%, while the Netherlands leads here with 63%.

Why is this important? We see systematically that these international collaborations have higher scientific impact than national collaborations: worldwide the scientific impact of international collaborations are 52% above the world average while national partnerships are more or less at the world average. So an international outlook that results in global partnerships contributes significantly to higher research impact.

Importance of research

Conducting analyses like this is essential because it allows countries to measure and strengthen their international scientific position. This information enables countries to monitor for progress, identify the highest impact areas, encourage international collaborations by highlighting their added value, give policymakers insight into the role of scientific research in innovation and policymaking, and show how scientific research contributes to critical initiatives such as global sustainability goals. A report like this highlights the importance of international cooperation and can determine whether a country is excelling and making an exceptional contribution to science, innovation and policy. This can strengthen the country’s national position.

The Netherlands as a case study for international collaboration

To illustrate the impact of international collaboration let’s look at a medium-sized science nation: the Netherlands.

How well is Dutch science performing?

Dutch science excels exceptionally well in terms of its impact on global science: Dutch research is frequently cited by scientists from all over the world — 72% above the world average. When we look at the 20 most research-intensive countries, the Netherlands, along with Switzerland, leads in scientific impact.

What are the success factors?

Dutch science particularly excels in engaging in international collaborations with both universities and businesses. The Netherlands is exceptionally internationally oriented, with 63% of all articles resulting from cross-border collaborations, as we have seen in the figure above. These collaborations yield significantly more scientific impact than national collaborations — more than double the world average — while national Dutch articles are just 20% above the world average.

When we then look at the 10 most productive international collaborations of the top three universities in the Netherlands — the University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University and the University of Groningen — several important points stand out:

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  All collaborating institutions are in Western Europe or North America.

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  The world’s top institutions are on the list, including the University of Oxford and Harvard.

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  Dutch universities collaborate most with academic powerhouses from the US, the UK, Scandinavia, France, Belgium and Germany.

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  The scientific impact is enormous: at least 3 times and in some cases 7 times the world average.

Moreover, research resulting from academic-corporate collaborations has even more impact on science: three times the world average. The report shows that 7.4% of all Dutch articles stem from such collaborations, significantly higher than the EU27 average of 4.1% or the world average of 2.7%. These partnerships are mostly with the pharmaceutical industry.

Which disciplines contribute the most to research impact?

Medical science is by far the largest contributor in the Netherlands at 41%, followed by natural sciences at 28%. Medical science, along with humanities & social sciences, has the greatest impact on science: 89% and 81% above the world average, respectively. It is therefore not surprising that most corporate-academic partnerships are with the pharmaceutical industry.

Which Dutch universities perform the best?

All Dutch universities perform much better than the world average on scientific impact. The University of Amsterdam (UvA)(opens in new tab/window) and Utrecht University(opens in new tab/window) are the most productive, while Erasmus University Rotterdam(opens in new tab/window) and UvA lead in scientific impact.

What is the impact on innovation and policy?

Dutch science not only impacts research globally but also innovation and policy. We observe that Dutch research is frequently cited in international patents.

Especially in the realm of government policy, Dutch science ranks at the top with the highest impact on policy documents worldwide: 9% of all Dutch articles are cited in policy documents. The Netherlands leads in this aspect: double the EU27 average and three times the world average.

What is the impact on sustainability?

Dutch science also contributes to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs)(opens in new tab/window). For instance, the Netherlands is very active in the areas of Peace(opens in new tab/window) and Climate Action(opens in new tab/window). Dutch research has high scientific impact across all SDGs, but Health(opens in new tab/window) and Climate Action stand out.

Is Dutch research outstanding across the board?

There are areas where the contribution of Dutch science is modest in terms of scale but still with high scientific impact: Examples are research in sustainable energy, in AI, and areas related to almost all key technologies(opens in new tab/window) (as defined by the Dutch government).

Conclusion

International collaboration plays a crucial role in contributing to a country’s scientific impact. This is well illustrated by the Netherlands, a mid-sized nation but leading country, alongside Switzerland, in scientific impact. The largest contributing factor is its high level of cross-border partnerships, whereby Dutch universities succeed by teaming up with the absolute academic powerhouses in the US, UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Scandinavia. We can confidently assert that Dutch research ranks among the top worldwide and makes an exceptional contribution to science, innovation and policy globally.