Scientific elites versus other scientists: who are better at taking advantage of the research collaboration network?

By collecting the publication data of scientists belonging to China’s Project 985 universities in the chemistry field and classifying the scientists into Distinguished Young Scholars (DYSs) and non-Distinguished Young Scholars (non-DYSs), this study constructed scientists’ ego research collaboration networks and compared the network differences between DYSs and non-DYSs, who usually occupy different structural positions in the science community. We employed three network indicators (degree centrality, betweenness centrality and tie strength) to measure the advantages related to network locations. Then, we investigated and compared DYSs’ and non-DYSs’ capability of using the social capital embedded in their research collaboration networks to improve their research performance. The results show that DYSs exhibit the better capability to use social capital from research collaboration networks and that their Ph.D. mentors may be a critical factor in scientific success. We further discussed the theoretical and practical implications at the end of this study.