Abstract:

Since the establishment of the African Union, it has led and promoted the integration process of science and technology effectively in Africa in many aspects. However, there are no quantitative measurements of the results of scientific and technological cooperation. With the assistance of social network analysis, geospatial analysis, and negative binomial regression analysis, the topological and spatial structures of African scientific research paper cooperation networks are carved based on a sample of 54 African countries' scientific research papers included in the WoS core collection from 2002 to 2019, while the influence of proximity on the structure of cooperation networks is explored. ①Topologically, the research cooperation thesis output varies widely among African countries. The cooperation is closer among countries, and the cooperation network has higher cohesiveness and better network accessibility, showing typical small-world characteristics.②In terms of spatial structure, the spatial differences of the three main centrality indicators are obvious, the spatial morphological characteristics are distinctive, while the strength centrality has a large spatial variation and shows the spatial pattern of "one and only", whereas, and nodal betweenness centrality is distributed in a continuous block, the spatial distribution of nodal degree centrality is relatively uniform. ③The negative binomial regression reveals that the research potential difference constitutes the driving force of the African scientific collaboration network, and the economic potential, and educational potential differences create barriers to research cooperation between countries. Cultural proximity and social proximity can significantly increase the probability of scientific research cooperation among African countries, while language proximity and geographical proximity are insignificant factors for African countries in seeking paper co-authors.

Key words: Africa, scientific collaboration network, structural heterogeneity, proximity mechanism

摘要：

非洲联盟成立后在诸多方面引领并切实推动了非洲科技一体化的进程，但对其科技合作成果至今尚无量化测评。基于2002至2019年WoS核心合集收录的54个非洲国家科研论文数据，借助社会网络分析、地理空间分析、负二项回归分析法，刻画非洲科研论文合作网络的拓扑结构和空间结构，探究邻近性对科研论文合作网络结构的影响，结果显示：①拓扑结构上，非洲各国科研合作论文产出数量差异巨大，合作网络有较高的凝聚性和较好的通达性，呈现出典型的小世界特征；②空间结构上，三大中心性指标空间差异明显，强度中心性表现出“一枝独秀”的空间格局，中间中心性呈连续块状分布，而度中心性分布则相对均匀；③负二项回归分析结果显示，国家间的科研势差构成了非洲各国科研论文合作网络的驱动力，经济势差、教育势差易于构成国家间科研合作壁垒。文化邻近性、社会邻近性替代了语言和地理空间的邻近，成为非洲国家寻求合作伙伴时考虑的重要因素。

关键词: 非洲, 科研论文合作网络, 结构异质性, 邻近性机制