Strengthening connections

Co-authorship is evidence of collaborative research. A number of studies have shown that collaboration between researchers is associated with higher quality research and greater citation impact (the number of times a publication is cited by subsequent publications).

Average co-authorship rates for New Zealand-affiliated publications increased by 3.7 per cent between 2010 and 2020. Rates are broadly similar across small advanced economies, ranging from 87 to 91 per cent in 2020. Although New Zealand is near the bottom of this range, co-authorship rates have increased and kept up with the increases observed in other small advanced economies.

Compared to the rest of the world, there is an opportunity for New Zealand researchers to grow connections with each other and with international partners. Building these connections provides a way for researchers to share knowledge and expertise, which can result in higher quality publications.

Collaboration on authorship is greater than 85 per cent for publications in science (ie physical, chemical, environmental, Earth, biological, agriculture and veterinary sciences) and engineering. It is lowest in fields such as history and archaeology, studies in creative arts and writing, language, communication and culture and philosophy and religious studies.

There is a trend towards increased co-authorship in all fields of research. This is likely to reflect the increased value placed on collaboration by research institutions and funders that seek to increase the impact of their research outputs.

External co-authorship occurs when more than one author and more than one institution are involved in producing a publication, regardless of the co-authors’ countries of origin.

The effect of external co-authorship can be observed by comparing the field citation ratios (FCRs) of New Zealand publications with no co-authorship to publications with external co-authorship in various research fields.

In all fields of research, the FCRs from publications with external co-authorship were substantially higher than those without co-authors. On average, a 2.7-fold increase in FCR was seen in publications involving external co-authorship. This ranged from a 1.5-fold increase in agricultural and veterinary sciences to a 5.7-fold increase in studies in creative arts and writing.

The fields of research where FCR was most influenced by external co-authorship for 2019 were:

• studies in creative arts and writing (2.4 vs 0.4)
• law and legal studies (2.6 vs 0.5)
• history and archaeology (2.1 vs 0.4)
• philosophy and religious studies (3.4 vs 0.8).

Connectivity with international researchers is essential for growing both the quality and impact of New Zealand research. Publications with international co-authorship are cited more frequently.

The proportion of publications with international collaboration is increasing across all small advanced economies and Australia. New Zealand is on a par with these countries, with nearly 56 per cent of publications having international co-authors in 2020, up from 39 per cent in 2010.

International collaboration rates vary by field of research. In 2020, collaboration rates were highest in Earth sciences (73%), physical sciences (73%), biological sciences (66%), technology (64%), chemical sciences (63%), environmental sciences (63%) and mathematical sciences (61%).

The rates were much lower for fields such as studies in creative arts and writing (24%), philosophy and religious studies (27%), law and legal studies (27%) and language, communication and culture (27%). Note that collaboration rates (ie publications with more than one author) were also generally lower in these fields (see figure 29).

Across all fields of research, the citation performance of publications with international co-authorship substantially exceeded the citation performance of publications without. On average, a 2.6-fold increase in the field citation ratio was seen in publications with international collaboration compared with those without. This ranged from a 7.3-fold increase in studies in creative arts and writing to a 1.5-fold increase in agricultural and veterinary sciences.

In 2019, the fields with the largest difference were:

• studies in creative arts and writing (3.5 vs 0.5)
• physical sciences (3.7 vs 1.3)
• law and legal studies (3.1 vs 0.7)
• education (4.1 vs 1.9).

Engagement with international colleagues is universally associated with higher uptake of research, as measured by citation rates. Growing international collaboration is one pathway to increased uptake of New Zealand research.

Evidence shows that research in universities that is funded at least in part by business has substantially higher economic impact, as measured by the proportion of inventions that are patented or licensed.

From 2009 to 2019, R&D undertaken by universities and funded by business remained about 4–5 per cent of higher education R&D expenditure. This is despite the overall 35 per cent increase in total funding in higher education for the same time period (see section 1.6).

The business operations survey queries businesses about cooperation with research organisations for innovation. There was a reduction in the level of business cooperation with universities, Crown research institutes and other research organisations in 2013. This corresponds to the timing of agency changes including the disestablishment of Industrial Research Limited and the establishment of Callaghan Innovation as the main government agency supporting businesses innovation. Levels of business cooperation had generally not recovered from 2009 levels by 2019.

Business-to-business cooperation on innovation includes cooperation with suppliers, customers and other businesses, as well as research organisations. While businesses may naturally resist sharing ideas to protect their intellectual property, there are substantial gains to be made from seeking complementary knowledge and pooling resources and expertise across firms.

In general, business-to-business cooperation on innovation is more common in larger firms (ie 100+ employees). Since 2009, this type of cooperation has increased only marginally in businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Cooperation for innovation occurred in 21–26 per cent of businesses between 2009 and 2019. Industry-specific rates have, however, been quite variable over this period.

For larger industry groups (ie those with more than 500 businesses) in 2019, the most cooperation for innovation occurred in healthcare and social assistance (35%), professional, scientific and technical services (34%), retail trade (30%) and manufacturing (26%).

Stronger international connections will help New Zealand access knowledge and solutions that are available elsewhere and address some of this country’s challenges. Growing connectivity to international firms, markets and capital is also essential for growing the scale of New Zealand’s start-up businesses.

Between 2009 and 2019, the proportion of funding from international sources for business R&D was above the OECD-Totals and similar to most small advanced economies (apart from Israel and Ireland). The proportion of funding from international sources for business R&D in New Zealand increased from 8.5 to 12.7 per cent during this period.