Using data from co-authorships at the international level in all fields of science in 1990 and 2000, and within six case studies at the sub-field level in 2000, different explanations for the growth of international collaboration in science and technology are explored. We find that few of the explanations within the literature can be supported by a detailed review of the growth of international collaboration during the 1990s. We hypothesize that growth may be due to recognition and rewards as ordering mechanisms within the system. We apply new tools emerging from network science to test whether international collaborations can organize based on rules of recognition and reward. These enquiries show that the growth of international co-authorships can be attributed to self-organizing phenomenon based on preferential attachment among collaborators at the sub-field level. The co-authorship links can be considered as a complex network with sub-dynamics involving features of both competition and cooperation. The analysis suggests that the growth of international collaboration during the 1990s has more likely emerged from dynamics at the sub-field level operating in all fields of science, albeit under institutional constraints. Implications for the management of global scientific collaborations are explored.

A transformation in the functions of university, industry, and government, the â triple helix,â is taking place as each institution can increasingly assume the role of the other. The Triple Helix thesis states that the knowledge infrastructure can be explained in terms of these changing relationships. Arrangements and networks among the three institutional spheres provide input and sustainance to science-based innovation processes. In this new configuration, academia can play a role as a source of firm-formation, technological, and regional development, in addition to its traditional role as a provider of trained persons and basic knowledge.

Kybernetes 35 (3/4) (2006) 547-566 / Purpose: The mismatches between political discourse and military momentum in the American handling of the Cuban missile crisis are explained by using the model of the potential autopoiesis of subsystems. Under wartime conditions, the codes of political and military communications can increasingly be differentiated. Design/methodology/approach: The model of a further differentiation between political and military power is developed on the basis of a detailed description of the Cuban missile crisis. We introduce the concept of a “semi-dormant autopoiesis” for the difference in the dynamics between peacetime and wartime conditions. Findings: Several dangerous incidents during the crisis can be explained by a sociocybernetic model focusing on communication and control, but not by using an organization-theoretical approach. The further differentiation of the military as a subsystem became possible in the course of the twentieth century because of ongoing learning processes about previous wars. Practical implications: Politicians should not underestimate autonomous military processes or the significance of standing orders. In order to continually produce communications within the military, communication partners are needed that stand outside of the hierarchy, and this role can be fulfilled by an enemy. A reflexively imagined enemy can thus reinforce the autopoiesis of the military subsystem. Originality/value: The paper shows that civilian control over military affairs has become structurally problematic and offers a sociocybernetic explanation of the missile crisis. The potential alternation in the dynamics under peacetime and wartime.

The quantitative study of scientific communication challenges science and technology studies by demonstrating that organized knowledge production and control is amenable to measurement. First, the various dimensions of the empirical study of the sciences are clarified in a methodological analysis of theoretical traditions, including the sociology of scientific knowledge and neo-conventionalism in the philosophy of science. Second, the author argues why the mathematical theory of communication enables us to address crucial problems in science and technology studies, both on the qualitative side (e.g., the significance of a reconstruction) and on the quantitative side (e.g., the prediction of indicators). A comprehensive set of probabilistic entropy measures for studying complex developments in networks is elaborated. In the third part of the study, applications to S&T policy questions (e.g., the emergence of a European R&D system), to problems of (Bayesian) knowledge representations, and to the study of the sciences in terms of 'self-organizing' paradigms of scientific communication are provided. A discussion of directions for further research concludes the study.

The (neo-)evolutionary model of a Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations focuses on the overlay of expectations, communications, and interactions that potentially feed back on the institutional arrangements among the carrying agencies. From this perspective, the evolutionary perspective in economics can be complemented with the reflexive turn from sociology. The combination provides a richer understanding of how knowledge-based systems of innovation are shaped and reconstructed. The communicative capacities of the carrying agents become crucial to the systemâ s further development, whereas the institutional arrangements (e.g., national systems) can be expected to remain under reconstruction. The tension of the differentiation no longer needs to be resolved, since the network configurations are reproduced by means of translations among historically changing codes. Some methodological and epistemological implications for studying innovation systems are explicated.

Research Policy 35(2), 2006, 181-199 / Can the knowledge base of an economy be measured? In this study, we combine the perspective of regional economics on the interrelationships among technology, organization, and territory with the triple-helix model, and offer the mutual information in three dimensions as an indicator of the configuration. When this probabilistic entropy is negative, the configuration reduces the uncertainty that prevails at the systems level. Data about more than a million Dutch companies are used for testing the indicator. The data contain postal codes (geography), sector codes (proxy for technology), and firm sizes in terms of number of employees (proxy for organization). The configurations are mapped at three levels: national (NUTS-1), provincial (NUTS-2), and regional (NUTS-3). The levels are cross-tabled with the knowledge-intensive sectors and services. The results suggest that medium-tech sectors contribute to the knowledge base of an economy more than high-tech ones. Knowledge-intensive services have an uncoupling effect, but less so at the high-tech end of these services.

The use of Pearsonâ s correlation coefficient in Author Cocitation Analysis was compared with Saltonâ s cosine measure in a number of recent contributions. Unlike the Pearson correlation, the cosine is insensitive to the number of zeros. However, one has the option of applying a logarithmic transformation in correlation analysis. Information calculus is based on both the logarithmic transformation and provides a non-parametric statistics. Using this methodology one can cluster a document set in a precise way and express the differences in terms of bits of information. The algorithm is explained and used on the data set which was made the subject of this discussion.

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In bibliometric data lie opportunities to develop indicators relevant to central concerns of new theories of innovation, specifically networks within and between national systems, and variety and diversity of capability. The data can make a unique contribution to pictures compiled from multiple sources, providing an unrivalled objective, disaggregated and internationally comparable time series signature of networks and capabilities. In this paper, we present what we call systemic bibliometric indicators to distinguish our disaggregated, network-focused, time series approach from classical bibliometrics. On average, the British innovation system participates in 9% of the publications produced by the global innovation system and 28.5% of those publications involving an EU institution. Its participation is approximately 20% greater than the German innovation system and 70% greater than the French system. UK innovation system papers have slightly less impact on the global innovation system than US innovation system papers but more impact than any of the other innovation systems we have examined. The growth in impact of UK research on the global world-wide research system is the same as the Germany system, less than the US system and greater than the remaining innovation systems. The distribution of the top twenty scientific subfields world-wide is quite different from the distribution in the global system and other innovation systems. Five of the worldâ s top twenty subfields (applied physics, condensed matter physics, analytical chemistry, physiology and cardiovascular systems) are not ranked in the top twenty UK subfields. The size distribution of scientific subfields suggests that the British innovation system has its own unique characteristics.

The science-shop model was initiated in the Netherlands in the 1970s. During the 1980s, the model spread throughout Europe, but without much coordination. The crucial idea behind the science shops involves a working relationship between knowledge-producing institutions like universities and citizen groups that need answers to relevant questions. More recently, the European Commission has funded a number of projects for taking stock of the results of science shops. Twenty-one in-depth case studies by seven science shops across Europe enable us to draw some conclusions about the variety of experiences in terms of differences among disciplines, nations, and formats of the historical institutionalization. The functions of science shops in the mediation of normative concerns with analytical perspectives can further be specified.