Global Mobility: Science Mapped Out

Global Mobility: Science Mapped Out

A fundamental shift is taking place in where, and by whom, science is being done. Once, a succession of science superpowers were dominant: France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Today, more nations — from China and India to Singapore, Brazil and South Korea — are taking their place at the high table of research. National boundaries are being transcended by networks of collaborators and researchers who are much more mobile than in the past. Academics are moving to where the funding and facilities are. As Rajika Bhandari of the Institute for International Education puts it: “Knowledge generation and research is really a border-less enterprise.”

This special issue of Nature looks at how this movement of people and ideas will change how science is done, how it is funded and the questions that it addresses