Knowledge and social relatedness shape research portfolio diversification.

ABSTRACT: Scientific discovery is shaped by scientists' choices and thus by their career patterns. The increasing knowledge required to work at the frontier of science makes it harder for an individual to embark on unexplored paths. Yet collaborations can reduce learning costs-albeit at the expense of increased coordination costs. In this article, we use data on the publication histories of a very large sample of physicists to measure the effects of knowledge and social relatedness on their diversification strategies. Using bipartite networks, we compute a measure of topic similarity and a measure of social proximity. We find that scientists' strategies are not random, and that they are significantly affected by both. Knowledge relatedness across topics explains [Formula: see text] of logistic regre

SUBMITTER: Tripodi G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7455750 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature