Scientific cooperation and knowledge networks: expanding the “invisible colleges” through science diplomacy

Abstract

The article examines the relevance of Derek J. de Solla Price’s (1963) concept of Invisible Colleges for understanding the contemporary configurations of international knowledge networks and scientific cooperation. The transformations of scientific activity, marked by the growing articulation between science and politics on a global scale, require an expansion of the analytical scope of Price’s original formulation. To this end, the article develops a theoretical discussion that brings into dialogue three intellectual traditions: the sociology of science, the sociology of scientific knowledge developed within Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the literature on science diplomacy. Whereas the first two traditions understand science as a social institution and, subsequently, as a social and cultural practice of knowledge production, science diplomacy demonstrates that scientific and political processes are deeply intertwined in the contemporary world, incorporating states, international organizations, funding agencies, and other political and institutional actors into the networks through which research agendas, resources, international cooperation, and the circulation of scientific knowledge are organized. The article concludes that bringing STS and International Relations into dialogue preserves the heuristic value of the concept of Invisible Colleges while extending its explanatory capacity to interpret the contemporary configurations of knowledge networks and scientific cooperation.