Beamtimes and knowledge production times: how big-science research infrastructures shape nations’ domestic and international science production

Frontier scientific discoveries increasingly rely on big-science research infrastructures, such as supercolliders, synchrotron light sources, and space telescopes, whose construction and operation involve intensive international collaboration. This collaborative nature, however, presents a challenge in balancing national interests with the common good, particularly given the substantial fiscal investments involved. This study investigates the effects of one of China’s prominent big-science infrastructures, the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), on the country’s production of science, differentiating between national and international scientific endeavors. Employing a rigorous difference-in-differences (DID) methodology, it evaluates SSRF’s effects on discipline-level production of publications by domestic researchers and those involving international collaboration. The empirical findings reveal compelling evidence that SSRF has significantly enhanced the production of high-impact national and international publications for disciplines reliant on the facility for experiments, particularly increasing the percentage of high-impact national publications. The findings also underscore the dual role of big-science infrastructures in fostering international research collaboration while simultaneously enhancing nations’ domestic scientific development and competitiveness. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights for research assessment and science policy discussions.