Navigating Academia: A Scientometric Study of Early-Career Factors Influencing Academic Mobility

Abstract

The goal of this research is to understand the impact of researchers’ early-career factors on their mobility. By gaining more insights in this domain, we can derive what factors universities and government officials can make policy on to stimulate, or limit, mobility flows in- and outwards. Additionally, gaining insights in this topic can identify (structural) inequalities in terms of mobility opportunities for researchers. Then, by understanding what factors are influential on creating mobility opportunities, science policy regarding academic mobility of early-career researchers can be improved.

This research focuses on analysing the early career factors of researchers, since researchers who have a jump-start in their first 5 years are more likely to be mobile. This can cause an upward spiral for researchers, increasing their performance and mobility. Moreover, applying signalling theory to understand the early career factors, it is emphasized that any signal in the early career is of higher significance than later in the academic career. Therefore, in this study the impact of early-career factors on researcher mobility is examined. This study makes use of a logistic regression model to test four hypotheses. These address the effect of performance, funding, collaboration with top-tier researchers, and potential social constraints of early career researchers on their overall academic mobility. It analyses the case of researchers starting in the Netherlands, and uses data from the Dimensions database.

The results of this study demonstrate that early-career factors significantly impact academic mobility, with the signalling of performance playing a crucial role. Specifically, research quality, rather than publication quantity, is the primary determinant. Moreover, externally provided quality signals of the researcher are crucial. Primarily receiving funding for their research by the European Research Council is a determining factor for academic mobility between European countries. Collaboration with a top-tier researcher also has a strong positive effect on researcher mobility, and in terms of social constraints, the destination country is predominantly determining the effect size. The identified factors require validation and generalisation to obtain a more thorough understanding of the drivers and barriers to mobility. Therefore, this research also facilitates the basis for a methodological framework, enabling the analysis of early career factors on researcher mobility for other cases.

In conclusion, it has become evident that early-career factors affect academic mobility. Focusing on these effects by both organizations and researchers ensures more equality for mobility opportunities. This will increase overall mobility, contributing to a more dynamic and intertwined knowledge ecosystem.