The impact of economic sanctions on China-U.S. scientific collaboration: Evidence from the civilian universities on the U.S. entity list

Lu,Chao; Xiao, Chengrui

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126212 Copy

Description

Title

The impact of economic sanctions on China-U.S. scientific collaboration: Evidence from the civilian universities on the U.S. entity list

Author(s)

• Lu,Chao
• Xiao, Chengrui

Issue Date

2025-03-11

Keyword(s)

• Scientific Collaboration
• China-U.S. Collaboration
• Economic Sanction

Abstract

China and the United States have enjoyed a long peroid of scientific collaboration. However, the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. government on China since 2018 appear to have disrupted this productive relationship. This study examines the potential impact of these sanctions on China-U.S. scientific collaboration, using the seven civilian universities, commonly referred to as SSND, as a case study. Drawing on scientific publication data from the Web of Science spanning more than 20 years, we assess how political tensions may have affected collaboration among individual researchers in both countries. Preliminary analysis of over 300,000 records suggests that, following China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and especially around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, SSND universities formed increasingly strong partnerships with U.S. institutions, benefiting researchers in both nations. However, after the U.S. government issued the Entity List to restrict trade with Chinese companies and even civilian universities, SSND institutions representative of many Chinese universities affected by the sanctions showed a significant decline in collaborations with U.S. affiliations. Instead, they shifted toward partnerships with domestic organizations and institutions in other countries. From a publication output perspective, these sanctions have negatively impacted not only Chinese researchers but also their close American collaborators.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2025 Proceedings

Type of Resource

Other

Genre of Resource

Conference Poster

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126212

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 is held by Chao Lu and Chengrui Xiao. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

Owning Collections