UK increases international scientific collaboration
The UK has increased its international scientific collaboration by 50% over the last 10 years. Although collaboration between the country and its European neighbours has grown significantly, China is by far the UK's preferred international partner, according to a report published by the UK's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The report, 'Patterns of international collaboration for the UK and leading partners', shows that nearly 40% of UK scientific publications and output over the last five years involved international collaboration, an increase of more than 11%. Over the last 10 years, the growth in collaboration has been even more dramatic, rising by some 50%, compared to 30% in France. This has allowed the UK to catch up with other leading scientific countries, having been relatively less collaborative in the past, suggests the report. The UK's partners of choice have been other major scientific countries, such as the US, Germany and France. The links with particularly France and Germany, and the quality of the outcomes from these partnerships, are important contributors to the growth of the European Research Area (ERA), suggests the report. However, in recent years, the UK has opted to work more closely with China. In 2005, the country had more joint publications with China than with any of its European neighbours. Nevertheless, the report notes that, surprisingly, the UK has been unable to rapidly increase its links with China in some areas of research. An example is biological sciences, which is not only an area of strength for the UK, but one in which China is expanding considerably. It suggests that the quality of the partnerships between the UK and China should be closely monitored in the future. The UK is also seen a good partner by other countries. For example, it retains a greater share of US collaboration (12.9%) than any other country except Germany, and is the leading partner for the US in clinical, health, biological and environmental sciences. It is also the second most frequent partner, after the US, for Germany, Australia and Canada. 'This report underlines the quality of UK science and its attractiveness as an international research partner. We will be further boosting our international ties through initiatives such as the UK India Education and Research Initiative, the UK China Partners in Science programme, and the Global Science and Innovation Forum strategy for international engagement,' commented Science and Innovation minister Ian Pearson. Sir David King, the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, emphasised the importance of international collaboration: 'This international collaboration benefits both the quality of UK science and that of our partners. By linking up with their peers abroad, outstanding UK scientists have been able to increase the impact of their work and that of their colleagues,' he said.
Countries
United Kingdom