Scientific Mobility and Research Careers

• In Event: How Does Mobility Change Researchers, Research Groups And Scientific Communities?

Abstract

Despite the fact that international experience has become an expected element of scientists’ careers (Ackers 2008), mobility has not been systematically incorporated in thinking about research careers. Only a small part of the literature connects geographic mobility with research careers. Lawson and Shibayama (2015) found short-term research visits are associated with more rapid career advancement (promotion) among Japanese biologists, but post-doctoral studies abroad are not. Laudel and Bielick (forthcoming) found that early career researchers’ mobility depends on the characteristics of scientific disciplines. More commonly, scientific mobility has been linked to aspects of research performance that may have career effects. Studies have addressed questions of whether international mobility boosts publication productivity, or increases the scientific impact of those publications (Asknes et al. 2013, Fernandez-Zubieta 2009, Franzoni et al. 2014, Halevi et al. 2016, Lu and Zhang 2015), with mixed results. This paper’s contribution is to systematically link scientific mobility to models of scientific research careers. The paper first identifies and describes six functions of scientific mobility which can be found in the literature. It then reviews three prominent models of research careers (Bozeman et al. 2001, Bozeman & Gaughan 2007, Gläser 2001, Laudel and Gläser 2008, Stephan et al. 2014, Stephan and Levin 2001), clarifying how the variable of mobility effects research careers under each of these approaches. The paper argues that this has the benefit of constructing a framework for analysing the epistemic, institutional, and personal factors shaping mobility and their consequences for research careers under different interpretive scenarios.

Authors

• Richard Woolley, Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València

• Carolina Cañibano, Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València