Bilateral and multilateral international scientific collaboration of EU member states: OpenAlex vs Scopus (2000-2024)

Abstract

This study examines the evolution of bilateral and multilateral scientific collaboration among EU Member States and between the EU and global partners from 2000 to 2024 using data from OpenAlex and Scopus. The results show that OpenAlex, when restricted to cited articles, yields findings broadly comparable to those obtained from Scopus for assessing country-level research collaboration. Relative Intensity of Collaboration (RIC) values are consistently higher for multilateral than for bilateral partnerships. Increased collaboration intensity during the final years of FP7, the intermediate and later stages of Horizon 2020, and the final years of the study period suggests that EU FP may have strengthened collaboration among participating countries. With regard to European integration, multilateral collaboration intensity increased between the EU-14 and EU-13, between these groups and EU candidate countries, and within the EU-13. Despite this growth, structural asymmetries persist. Bilateral collaboration among EU-14 countries is concentrated within the group and with EU-13, Brazil, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, whereas EU-13 countries collaborate more intensively within the group, with EU candidate countries and Russia. EU-14 countries maintain stronger multilateral collaboration with high-income countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States than do EU-13 countries. For both groups, collaboration with China remains the weakest. Although multilateral collaboration intensity with Russia has declined, it remained above the expected level for the EU-14 in 2024 and was 2.5 times higher than expected for the EU-13. This persistence may reflect the continued participation of Russian researchers in multilateral projects despite Russia's suspension from Horizon Europe in 2022.