Exploring the Academic Exchange among Countries along the "The Belt and Road": Bibliometrics Perspective of Highly Cited Papers

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] "The Belt and Road" is an initiative proposed by China in recent years to cooperate and develop a community with a shared future for mankind, which has been continuously highly concerned by all circles at home and abroad. From the perspective of the citation of highly cited papers, the academic exchange of countries along the Belt and Road initiative can provide a quantitative reference for future international academic and technological exchanges, collaborative innovation and development. [Method/Process] Based on the highly cited papers among the countries along the “The Belt and Road” in the WoS database from 2013 to 2018, this paper constructed a reference matrix and analyzed the network structure, and drew a national citation network map for cluster division. Furthermore, it explored the current state of academic exchange along the “The Belt and Road” and the direction of Chinese academic output, and further analyzed the correlation between Chinese academic exchanges and trade cooperation with other 64 countries along the route. [Results/Conclusions] The research results show that the countries along "The Belt and Road" have close academic exchange and obvious "small world" characteristics. China is the core of academic exchange and the highly cited papers in many research directions in China are cited by many countries along "The Belt and Road". Besides, academic exchange and trade cooperation between China and countries along “The Belt and Road” are strongly related.

Keywords

• the belt and road|academic exchange|highly cited papers|bibliometrics|visualization