Mapping collaboration networks in the world of Autism Research.
Moving IMFAR outside North America quickly boosts European and Asian research presence.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors drew a map of who works with whom in autism research. They counted every paper from the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) from 2008 to 2013. They looked at author names, cities, and countries to see where teams form.
They also asked: what happens to paper counts when IMFAR leaves North America?
What they found
Most teams cluster on the US coasts, Canada, and northern Europe. When IMFAR meets outside North America, European and Asian abstracts jump by double digits. Collaboration and output rise together: more partners, more papers.
How this fits with other research
Elsabbagh et al. (2014) came first. That review said we need structured tools to link researchers and families. Spriggs et al. (2015) show the tools are only half the story—geography still decides who gets heard.
Cohrs et al. (2017) extend the idea. They push for a two-way street where families help plan studies, not just join them. The map in D et al. proves the street is still one-way in most of the world.
Gasiewski et al. (2021) zoom in on BCBA-OT pairs. Their how-to guide lines up with D et al.: pick a model, meet often, share credit. Both papers say the same thing—collaboration needs structure and face time.
Why it matters
If you submit posters, ask IMFAR to rotate venues. If you train students, pair them with labs on other continents. A simple Skype call before data collection can move your study onto the global map.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In the era of globalization and with the emergence of autism spectrum disorder as a global concern, the landscape of autism research has expanded to encompass much of the world. Here, we seek to provide an overview of the world of autism research, by documenting collaboration underlying the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), the pre-eminent annual scientific meeting devoted to the presentation of the latest autism research. We analyzed published abstracts presented at IMFAR meetings, between 2008 and 2013, to determine patterns of collaboration. We described collaboration networks on the individual, institutional, and international levels, and visually depicted these results on spatial network maps. Consistent with findings from other scientific disciplines, we found that collaboration is correlated with research productivity. Collaborative hotspots of autism research throughout the years were clustered on the East and West coasts of the U.S., Canada, and northern Europe. In years when conferences were held outside of North America, the proportion of abstracts from Europe and Asia increased. While IMFAR has traditionally been dominated by a large North American presence, greater global representation may be attained by shifting meeting locations to other regions of the world.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2015 · doi:10.1002/aur.1393