Scientific collaboration in tourism: research groups and networks in Catalonia

Abstract

The aim was to analyse research collaboration in the field of tourism in Catalonia: to
describe the research groups; to study the collaboration between groups, organisations and
countries; to explore the level of multidisciplinarity in relation with the type of journals;
and to identify key researchers. We made a catalogue of groups and analysed research
output between 2000 and 2010 by means of bibliometrics and social networks analysis.
We found four types of groups among the 20 groups identified, collaborating internally
and externally in equal measure. Incidence of co-authorship increased over the course of
the decade, but not its extent. Collaboration was highest in the most prestigious journals,
but it was not clear whether multidisciplinary studies correlated with higher collaboration.
Co-authorship networks lacked cohesion: many researchers were working in isolation and
disconnected subgroups. National and international collaboration increased the most, but
local collaboration was the most frequent.