Diagnosing “Collaborative Culture” of Biomedical Science in South Korea: Misoriented Knowledge, Competition, and Failing Collaboration

In this article, the authors review collaborations in the emerging biomedical sciences in South Korea. At the global level, several studies have made substantial contributions to the understanding of the underlying structure of collaboration networks across countries. Despite the increase in international collaborations, researchers have rarely paid attention to the structural pattern of internal collaboration among individual actors that reflects culturally embedded characteristics in East Asia. To fill this gap, this study explores research collaboration in South Korea. In this study, the “collaborative culture” is interpreted and assessed through collaborative patterns in the network of important scientific actors and their conduct subject to reproduction. By applying a social network analysis approach, the authors visualize such attributes of network relations and discuss how to deal with ethical issues that are vital to sustainable scientific collaboration.