Is connected to researcher B and researcher B is connected to researcher C, there is also high likelihood that eventually researcher A will associate with researcher C. Hence, it is not surprising that “establishing further networks” is an important benefit or motivation. A significant gender difference was observed in perceiving “establishing further networks” as a benefit (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed = 0.001). Female authors seemed to assign more importance to this benefit compared to their male counterparts. Coupled with the fact that, in our sample, women researchers co-authored more papers compared to male researchers, the finding further suggests that female researchers may indeed be more social, looking for more collaborations compared to male researchers. A study by [33] also indicated that women researchers tend to have, on an average, more collaborators compared to their male counterparts.PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0157633 June 20,9 /Perceptions of Scholars in the Field of Economics on Co-Authorship AssociationsA Kruskal-Wallis Test showed significant difference in the choice of benefits and motivations with respect to the age of researchers. While `Increase in the no. of publications to obtain promotion or tenure’ was not a motivating factor for researchers older than 56 years, it was one of the most important factors for those younger than 35 years of age. Similarly, `being mentored by senior colleague’ was a more important factor for younger rather than older researchers, while `mentoring a junior colleague’ was a more important factor for older colleagues than for younger ones. A significant difference (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed = 0.000) was again observed between researchers residing in different regions of the world. In contrast to researchers in North America (mainly the US), researchers in Asia or Africa get BMS-986020 consider working with international AZD1722 supplier institutions as an important benefit or motivation. Similarly, North American scientists gave comparatively less importance to `Establishing further networks’ compared to researchers in Africa or South America. The respondents considered that co-authorship could potentially increase the total number of publications of a researcher (6th top benefit and motivation for co-authorship). One of the most consistent findings in the literature has been the high degree of correlation between collaboration and research productivity [4, 42]. Zuckerman [43] interviewed 41 Nobel Prize winners and identified a strong relationship between collaboration and productivity. Indeed, Nobel laureates were more apt to collaborate compared to a matched sample of scientists. However, owing to strains resulting from prestige, collaboration ties (with most of these terminating) decreased soon after the award. Pao [44] noted that musicologists who collaborated the most were also the most productive. The increase in the number of publications increases the prestige of researchers in the research community. As the influence of researchers grows, other researchers show their interest in working with them, further increasing the number of publications. Collaboration has a cumulative effect that increases the popularity of the researcher. Landry, Traore [45] carried out an econometric analysis and showed that collaboration within universities, industries, or institutions may indeed increase academic productivity. However, productivity may vary according to the geographical closeness of the partners and their field of r.Is connected to researcher B and researcher B is connected to researcher C, there is also high likelihood that eventually researcher A will associate with researcher C. Hence, it is not surprising that “establishing further networks” is an important benefit or motivation. A significant gender difference was observed in perceiving “establishing further networks” as a benefit (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed = 0.001). Female authors seemed to assign more importance to this benefit compared to their male counterparts. Coupled with the fact that, in our sample, women researchers co-authored more papers compared to male researchers, the finding further suggests that female researchers may indeed be more social, looking for more collaborations compared to male researchers. A study by [33] also indicated that women researchers tend to have, on an average, more collaborators compared to their male counterparts.PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0157633 June 20,9 /Perceptions of Scholars in the Field of Economics on Co-Authorship AssociationsA Kruskal-Wallis Test showed significant difference in the choice of benefits and motivations with respect to the age of researchers. While `Increase in the no. of publications to obtain promotion or tenure’ was not a motivating factor for researchers older than 56 years, it was one of the most important factors for those younger than 35 years of age. Similarly, `being mentored by senior colleague’ was a more important factor for younger rather than older researchers, while `mentoring a junior colleague’ was a more important factor for older colleagues than for younger ones. A significant difference (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed = 0.000) was again observed between researchers residing in different regions of the world. In contrast to researchers in North America (mainly the US), researchers in Asia or Africa consider working with international institutions as an important benefit or motivation. Similarly, North American scientists gave comparatively less importance to `Establishing further networks’ compared to researchers in Africa or South America. The respondents considered that co-authorship could potentially increase the total number of publications of a researcher (6th top benefit and motivation for co-authorship). One of the most consistent findings in the literature has been the high degree of correlation between collaboration and research productivity [4, 42]. Zuckerman [43] interviewed 41 Nobel Prize winners and identified a strong relationship between collaboration and productivity. Indeed, Nobel laureates were more apt to collaborate compared to a matched sample of scientists. However, owing to strains resulting from prestige, collaboration ties (with most of these terminating) decreased soon after the award. Pao [44] noted that musicologists who collaborated the most were also the most productive. The increase in the number of publications increases the prestige of researchers in the research community. As the influence of researchers grows, other researchers show their interest in working with them, further increasing the number of publications. Collaboration has a cumulative effect that increases the popularity of the researcher. Landry, Traore [45] carried out an econometric analysis and showed that collaboration within universities, industries, or institutions may indeed increase academic productivity. However, productivity may vary according to the geographical closeness of the partners and their field of r.
