Abstract
We examine the ways in which the research process differs in developed and developing
areas by focusing on two questions. First, is collaboration associated with
productivity? Second, is access to the Internet (specifically use of email)
associated with reduced problems of collaboration? Recent analyses by Lee &
Bozeman (2005) and Walsh & Maloney (2003) suggest affirmative answers to
these questions for US scientists. Based on a comparative analysis of scientists in
Ghana, Kenya, and the State of Kerala in south-western India (N 918), we
find that: (1) collaboration is not associated with any general increment in
productivity; and (2) while access to email does attenuate research problems, such
difficulties are structured more by national and regional context than by the
collaborative process itself. The interpretation of these results suggests a paradox
that raises issues for future studies: those conditions that unsettle the
relationship between collaboration and productivity in developing areas may
undermine the collaborative benefits of new information and communication technologies.
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