The geopolitics of knowledge: tipping points, national fingerprints, and the unequal globalization of science

2026-07-09

AI Summary

This study challenges the conventional view of science as an autonomous system by demonstrating how geopolitical transformations shape global research agendas. Leveraging OpenAlex publication data spanning over fifty years and encompassing nearly all countries and disciplines, the authors employ large-scale scientometric analysis, cross-national and cross-disciplinary time-series modeling, and network clustering techniques to provide the first quantitative evidence of the pronounced geopolitical embeddedness of the global scientific system. The findings reveal that major exogenous shocks—such as the Chernobyl disaster, 9/11, and the COVID-19 pandemic—trigger synchronized shifts in global research priorities; that scientific trajectories between Global North and South continue to diverge; and that emerging economies in the Global South, exemplified by Brazil and Indonesia, enhance their scientific influence through strategic specialization, thereby driving the evolution of global science toward a multipolar structure.

Abstract

Science is often portrayed as a universal and self-contained system, driven solely by the internal logic of knowledge accumulation and isolated from the turbulences of the socio-political world. In this paper, we challenge this narrative by providing systematic quantitative evidence that the global scientific ecosystem is deeply shaped by geopolitical transformations. Using a large-scale dataset of scientific publications drawn from the OpenAlex database, spanning over five decades and covering virtually all countries and disciplinary areas, we track the evolution of national research profiles and show that geopolitical dynamics shape scientific agendas at multiple scales. At the global level, intrinsic scientific change is slow and cumulative, but exogenous shocks, such as Chernobyl, September 11, and COVID-19, produce rapid disruptions that synchronously reconfigure the priorities of many countries at once. At the country level, we document a broad globalization of knowledge, yet deeply heterogeneous: while Global North countries converge toward a shared international agenda, Global South countries display strong dependence on international resources alongside locally distinctive research interests. Among emerging Southern economies, scientific power is increasingly asserted through specialized and independent agendas. Finally, we observe a reorganization of global scientific influence toward a more polycentric structure, with the emergence of a Southern cluster gravitating around Brazil and Indonesia as new regional hubs.

Problem

• geopolitics of knowledge
• global scientific ecosystem
• unequal globalization
• national research profiles
• scientific agendas

Innovation

• geopolitics of knowledge
• national research profiles
• scientific globalization
• polycentric science
• exogenous shocks