The inter-institutional and intra-institutional multi-affiliation authorships in the scientific papers produced by the well-ranked universities

• Published in: Journal of informetrics Vol. 19; no. 1; p. 101635
• Main Authors: Lin, Chi-shiou, Huang, Mu-hsuan, Chen, Dar-zen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2025
• Subjects: Inter-institutional multi-affiliation; Intra-institutional multi-affiliation; Multi-affiliation authorships; Research collaboration; Intra-institutional multi-affiliation; Inter-institutional multi-affiliation; Multi-affiliation authorships; Research collaboration
• ISSN: 1751-1577
• DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2024.101635

•Multi-affiliation is now a prevalent phenomenon influencing research evaluation.•This study is the first to examine the intra-institutional multi-affiliation.•Life science and medicine were the most intensive in multi-affiliation.•Australia, France, and Italy topped the inter-institutional multi-affiliation.•China and Canada were prevalent in intra-institutional multi-affiliation. The phenomenon of multi-affiliation in scientific authorship has increasingly garnered attention in scholarly communication. This study examines the extent and implications of multi-affiliation, distinguishing between intra-institutional and inter-institutional multi-affiliations, including their subtypes based on national and international affiliations. Utilizing data from the Web of Science, the study analyzes scientific papers from well-ranked global universities over a decade (2013–2022). The results indicate a significant prevalence of multi-affiliation, with 22.54 % of authorships and over half of the papers exhibiting at least one instance of multi-affiliation. The study finds notable variations in multi-affiliation trends across countries and subject fields. The findings raise critical questions about the impact of multi-affiliation on research evaluation and university rankings, suggesting a need for refined bibliometric measures and author guidance on affiliations to account for this growing trend.