Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations That Went Missing in Hurricane ISSAC

Abstract

By exploiting the cancellation of the 2012 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, we investigate the role of conferences in facilitating academic collaboration. We assembled data sets comprising 17,467 academics, and in difference-in-differences analysis we find that the conference cancellation led to a decrease in individuals' likelihood of co-authoring an article with another attendant by 16%. Moreover, collaborations formed among attendants of (occurring) conferences are associated with more successful co-publications: an effect which is sharpest for teams that are new or non-collocated. Conferences seem to de-cluster the co-authorship network. Altogether, our findings demonstrate the importance of conferences in scientific production.

Gender Gaps in the Evaluation of Research: Evidence from Submissions to Economics Conferences*

“…They are useful to receive feedback, improve presentation and communication skills, get to know fellow economists in the field, hear about the latest research, gain visibility, and develop networking and future collaborations. Indeed, it has been shown that conferences increase the cites of the articles presented there (de Leon and McQuillin (2020)) and the likelihood of co‐authoring with another attendant in the future (Campos, Leon and McQuillin (2018)). Hence, the presence of gender gaps in the evaluation process may have substantial impact on the professional careers of economists.…”

The impact of air transport availability on research collaboration: A case study of four universities

“…Under what conditions? What will be the impact of reducing academic mobility on the development of science [ 94 ]? How will these changes affect power and prestige in the global science system [ 95 , 96 ]?…”

Sociality enhances survival in science, especially for female researchers

“…Thus, contribution to a conference likely indicated active participation in science at that time. Conferences are a common place for scientists to meet and find existing and new collaborators 116 , and in the 1990s the ISBE conferences attracted many of the most active researchers in behavioural ecology and related fields, and also many young students embarking on a career in this field (pers. comm.…”