Patterns of international collaboration for the UK and leading partners are described by bibliometrical
methods. The data analysed in this report are records of research publications, their authors’ location and their subsequent
citations by later publications. Data cover: nine countries－UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, China
and India; seven research fields-clinical sciences, health and related subjects, biological sciences, environmental sciences,
mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering; two time periods － 1996-2000 and 2001-2005. Results show that the
importance of international collaboration within countries’ output has increased; for the UK the share of international
collaboration has increased relative to domestic volume more rapidly than for other G7 economies; the UK retains a greater
share of USA collaboration than any country except Germany; the average impact of internationally co-authored work is
significantly higher than the overall average; the UK has more collaborative papers with China than any other EU partner.

The term“ Overseas Chinese Phenomenon” is used here to refer to the fact that scientists of Chinese descent
play an important role in international collaboration between mainland China and the rest of the world. In this paper, we
review international collaboration between ethnic Chinese scientists in eight countries (regions) - USA, England, Germany,
France, Japan, Canada, Australia, and South Korea - and colleagues in China itself. Our analysis shows that while ethnic
ties play an important role as a bridge between China and the country of residence, policies of the Chinese government with
respect to international collaboration and overseas Chinese reinforce the growth of ethnically based co-authorship.