Science and technology (S&T) indicators used to measure the overall impact of international collaboration do not currently provide universities with a comprehensive, institutional-level assessment of their international research collaborations. This project will test and refine commonly used S&T indicators and develop new metrics to evaluate input, output, and the impact of international research cooperation using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The project will process and analyze data from various sources including Elsevier?s Scopus and Thomson Reuters? Web of Science publication databases; grants and patent databases; as well as a mixed-mode survey administered to faculty researchers at Washington State University (WSU). Collectively, these tools will first be applied to WSU as a case study and further assessed with four other U.S. public research institutions.
Broader Impacts: This project will create and assess an institutional-level blue print that will assist a U.S. university to document the impact and productivity of its international research collaborations. Practical tools and information will be generated to capture the formal and informal characteristics of partnerships; the resulting guidance manual will be of interest to university policymakers and decision-makers to leverage investments resulting from strategic international alliances. The impact of this research project will provide evidence-based approaches to U.S. institutions in implementing interventions that will enable growth in productive international research collaborations.
