The geopolitics of scientific production and the new configuration of global networks

Abstract

 Contemporary science is structured in collaborative networks whose dynamics are intrinsically shaped by the position of actors within the global system of knowledge production. The literature indicates that, historically, the internationalization of research has manifested itself asymmetrically, reproducing a classical center–periphery pattern. This article seeks to discuss, by means of a systematic literature review, how recent reconfigurations of the global academic system have altered the flows of academic mobility in terms of origins and destinations. In recent decades, paradigmatic transformations have been observed: the expansion of peripheral nations’ participation in collaboration networks and the rise of China as a scientific power driven by massive investments in research and development (R&D); and the exponential growth in the volume of international mobility. These factors have converted a previously bipolar (South–North) dynamic into a multipolar configuration. Although flows from the periphery to the core persist, new reverse movements have emerged, along with a re-signification of mobility experiences that transcends the binary narrative opposing the “positively mobile” to the “negatively immobile”. It is concluded that the repositioning of scientific poles is a multidimensional phenomenon in which systemic, institutional, and individual factors interact to shape contemporary academic trajectories.