title: Does Size Matter? The Multipolar International Landscape of Nanoscience.
abstract: How do different countries tackle nanoscience research? Are all countries similar except for a trivial size effect, as science is often assumed to be universal? Or does size dictate large differences, as large countries are able to develop activities in all directions of research, while small countries have to specialize in some specific niches? Alternatively, is size irrelevant, as all countries have followed different historical paths, leading to different patterns of specialisation? Here, we develop an original method that uses a bottom-up definition of scientific subfields to map the international structure of any scientific field. Our analysis shows that nanoscience research does not show a universal pattern of specialisation, homothetic of that of a single global leader (e.g., the United States). Instead, we find a multipolar world, with four main ways of doing nanosciences.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Estudios Sociohistóricos, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Santa Rosa, Argentina.
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7209-805X
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique and IXXI, ENS de Lyon, UMR 5672, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: CONICET, Centro de Ciencia, tecnología y sociedad (Universidad Maimónides), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kreimer
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design; D012586:Science / Q000379:methods*