Mobile scientists perform better than those who stay in their home nation.
Scientists who move countries tend to publish in higher-impact journals than those who remain at home, a study finds (C. Franzoni et al. Econ. Lett. http://doi.org/p68; 2013). The authors asked about the relocation history of 14,299 researchers of all career stages in biology, chemistry, Earth and environmental sciences and materials science in 16 nations. Looking at papers published in 2009, the team found that scientists who were living in countries other than the ones they had been living in at age 18 published in journals with impact factors an average of 1.07 points higher than scientists who stayed put. Moving may help scientists to find work settings where they can maximize their potential, says co-author Chiara Franzoni, an economist at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy.
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International impact. Nature 504, 179 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7478-179a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7478-179a