全球科研人员城市间的流动格局及演化特征——基于Scopus百年论文数据的研究

The Mobility Pattern and Evolution Characteristics of Mobile Researchers Between Global Cities:Research Based on the Data of Scopus' Centennial Papers

伴随着全球城市间科技交流活动日益频繁,科研人员跨国流动已经成为促进知识国际扩散和区域创新发展的重要途径。基于Scopus数据库1920年—2020年间的80749758篇论文数据对近4100万名科研人员跨国流动行为进行识别,采用社会网络分析方法构建全球科研人员在36个重要城市间的跨国流动网络,并从宏观趋势、流动格局和科学中心三方面探讨了全球科研人员在城市间的跨国流动特征。结果发现:(1)从宏观趋势看,1920年—2020年间全球科研人员的跨国流动规模总体上呈现加速增长趋势,流动模式由迁徙型主导向回流和弱流动转变,学科分布主要集中在医学、生物化学、遗传学和分子生物学、化学工程领域。(2)从流动格局看,全球经历了20世纪“欧洲—北美”两极间跨国流动格局向21世纪“欧洲、北美和亚太”三极间跨国流动格局的转变。跨国流动的科研人员在地理分布上表现出明显的城市集聚特征,主要分布在伦敦、纽约、东京、巴黎、北京、新加坡等综合影响力较高的城市,同时以北上广深为代表的中国城市自21世纪以来对全球科研人员的吸引力稳步增强。(3)从科学中心的演化看,科研人员跨国流动有助于促进城市层面科学中心的形成与发展。其中,以纽约和伦敦为代表的欧美城市在科学中心的形成和发展过程中更多地体现了自身在科学发展方面的优势累积效应,而以北京和东京为代表的亚洲城市科学实力的提升则更多地体现了向欧美国家赶超过程中的后发学习优势。

With the increasingly frequent scientific and technological exchanges between global cities,international mobility of researchers has become an important way to promote knowledge diffusion and regional innovation and development.Researchers with high mobility have become the focus of talent competition strategies in various countries.However,the complexity and dynamics of international mobility behavior of researchers pose challenges to the formulation and implementation of talent strategies.Existing literature has yielded rich results in exploring the behavioral characteristics,driving factors,and economic and social impacts of international mobility of researchers,but there are still two limitations.On the one hand,Studies have explored the international mobility behavior and patterns of researchers at the country level,with less attention paid to the international mobility behavior of at the urban level.On the other hand,due to the availability of data and the limitations of methods,existing studies have mostly examined the international mobility of researchers in specific projects and disciplinary fields in a short historical period.This study attempts to scientifically depict the international behavior of global researchers at the urban level,revealing the characteristics and patterns of international mobility of researchers in a larger spatial and temporal range and a longer historical cycle,and systematically analyzing the relationship between international mobility of researchers and the evolution of scientific centers at the urban level.Based on the data of 80749758 papers from 1920 to 2020 provided by Scopus dataset,we identify the international mobility behavior of researchers and then construct the international mobility network of researchers among 36 global cities using social network analysis method.We further discuss the mobility characteristics of researchers among those global cities from three aspects:macro trend,mobility pattern and evolution of science centers.To begin with, we attempt to construct a method for identifying international mobility of researchers based onlong-term massive paper data, and track their international mobility behavior. Secondly, we analyze the basic characteristicsof international mobility of researchers from macro thrend involving mobility scale, mobility mode, and disciplinarydistribution. We also explore the urban distribution and talent structure characteristics of researchers by constructing amobility network at the urban level. Thirdly, we identify scientific centers at the urban (and disciplinary) level throughweighted scientific outputs, and then investigate the relationship and mechanism between the international mobility of researchersand the formation and development of urban scientific centers.We get the following research conclusions: (1) From the perspective of macro trend, the scale of internationallymobile researchers has been expanding acceleratedly from 1920 to 2020. The flow pattern of internationally mobileresearchers has shifted from migration-oriented to returning and weak flow. The disciplines of internationally mobileresearchers are mainly concentrated in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology and chemicalengineering. (2) From the perspective of mobility pattern, the world has experienced a transformation from the "Europe,North-America" bipolar flow in the 20th century to the "Europe, North America and Asia Pacific" tripolar flow in the 21stcentury. Besides, international mobility of researchers shows significant regional agglomeration effect, and they are mainlydistributed in cities with high comprehensive influence, such as London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Singapore andso on. Chinese cities represented by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has shown increasingly attraction tointernational mobile researchers since the beginning of 21st century. (3) From the perspective of the evolution of sciencecenters, international mobility of researchers is conducive to the formation and development of science centers. On the onehand, the science centers in Europe and America represented by New York and London have mainly experienced thecumulative effect of advantages in scientific activities in their development. On the other hand, for Asian cities such asBeijing and Tokyo, they have mainly experienced late-mover advantage of learning in the process of catching up Europeanand American countries so as to improve their scientific strength.Our findings help to understand the law of international mobility of researchers as well as formulate regional talentstrategy. China needs to leverage its abundant resources, strategic location, and institutional strengths in the process ofbuilding international science and technology innovation centers and comprehensive national science centers. Besides, it isnecessary to proactively engage in global science and technology collaboration, harness both domestic and foreign advantageousscientific and technological resources, and attract exceptional scientific and technological talents around the world.These efforts are essential to effectively enhance urban science and technology innovation capabilities, expedite the establishmentof international scientific and technological competitive advantages, and foster the creation of a global sciencecenter and innovation hub.