Internationalization of Psychological Research: Publications and Collaborations of the United States and Other Leading Countries

Abstract

We undertook this study to assess whether trends toward declining U.S. dominance and increasing international authorship exist in psychology journals. We collected data on the national affiliations of authors in 16 primary and 3 secondary journals from the United States, and 4 international journals published over 3 decades. Although analyses showed the United States continued to dominate overall and in most specialties, there were significant declines in the proportion of U.S.-authored publications after the year 2000, most in experimental psychology and least within social/personality and clinical/health psychology. In primary journals, publications were largely (97.8%) from the United States, and 13 leading countries defined by publication performance: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (U.K.). The topic focus (on experimental psychology) of the 13 leading countries differed from that emphasized in the United States. (clinical/health psychology). Frequency of international collaborations steadily increased across the period of study, mostly among leading countries of comparable achievement, in proximity, or with similar language and culture. Research collaborations involving U.S. psychologists were more often with colleagues from other states than with those from other countries. Although the study suggests that productivity within psychology may be just as imbalanced internationally as it has been for decades, a great deal has changed: the United States is no longer seen as the sole contributor; the research of other countries, especially from Western Europe, have risen to where at least in certain fields it has taken on a larger role in shaping the direction of research.