The role of Chinese–American scientists in China–US scientific collaboration: a study in nanotechnology

In this paper, we use bibliometric methods and social network analysis to analyze the pattern of China–US scientific collaboration on individual level in nanotechnology. Results show that Chinese–American scientists have been playing an important role in China–US scientific collaboration. We find that China–US collaboration in nanotechnology mainly occurs between Chinese and Chinese–American scientists. In the co-authorship network, Chinese–American scientists tend to have higher betweenness centrality. Moreover, the series of polices implemented by the Chinese government to recruit oversea experts seems to contribute a lot to China–US scientific collaboration.