Evolutionary convergence of the patterns of international research collaborations across scientific fields

Frame and Carpenter (1979) analysed the pattern of international research collaboration among scientific fields in 1970s. Starting from this pioneering work, this paper investigates international collaborations over 1997-2012 and compares the critical results with earlier studies to detect the evolution of collaboration patterns in different scientific fields. Empirical analysis supports two vital findings, given by: a) a relatively stable structure of international research collaborations over time across different scientific fields; b) a convergent process of collaboration patterns between theoretical and applied research fields. One important determinant of the latter result might be due to the increasing interdisciplinary nature of research fields that supports the convergence between basic and applied sciences.