An analysis of national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences

BACKGROUND: The establishment of scientific collaborations with researchers abroad can be considered a good practice to make appropriate use of their knowledge and to increase the possibilities of them returning to their country. This paper analyses the collaboration between Spanish researchers abroad devoted to health sciences and national science institutions. METHODS: We used the Fontes’ approach to perform a study on this collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad. We measured the level of national and international cooperation, the opportunity provided by the host country to collaborate, the promotion of collaboration by national science institutions, and the types of collaboration. A total of 88 biomedical researchers out of the 268 Spanish scientists who filled up the survey participated in the study. Different data analyses were performed to study the variables selected to measure the scientific collaboration and profile of Spanish researchers abroad. RESULTS: There is a high level of cooperation between Spanish health science researchers abroad and international institutions, which contrasts with the small-scale collaboration with national institutions. Host countries facilitate this collaboration with national and international scientific institutions to a larger extent than the level of collaboration promotion carried out by Spanish institutions. CONCLUSIONS: The national collaboration with Spanish researchers abroad in the health sciences is limited. Thus, the practice of making appropriate use of the potential of their expertise should be promoted and the opportunities for Spanish health science researchers to return home should be improved. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12961-015-0055-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.