The Effect of Research Infrastructure on the Scientific Benefits of Collaboration: An Empirical Investigation of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF)

The coexistence of knowledge sharing and knowledge leakage in scientific collaboration positively and negatively affects the researchers to collaborate. Extant literatures extensively link the scientific benefits of collaboration with Research Infrastructure (RI). In this study, we discuss the direct and indirect effects of RI on scientific benefits of collaboration in the context of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). Based on 295 papers published by SSRF, we empirically analyze the direct effects of mutual trust and research subsidies on scientific benefits, and the indirect effect of SSRF as a RI. The results show that mutual trust and research subsidies have a direct positive effect on scientific benefits of collaboration, while RI has an indirect negative effect between research subsidies and scientific benefit. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the role of RI as an experimental platform, paying attention to knowledge sharing and knowledge leakage in scientific collaboration.