Does the COVID-19 pandemic derail US-China collaboration on carbon neutrality research? A survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted scientific research activities, especially international cooperation in scientific research. Using bibliometric methods and scientific knowledge graph software, and by calculating collaboration indicators such as international collaboration rates, this work conducts a comprehensive review of carbon neutrality publications in the Web of Science database before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to explore whether the COVID-19 pandemic derail China-U.S. collaboration on carbon neutrality research. The results show that (i) During the COVID-19 pandemic, more extensive research on carbon neutrality was carried out around the world, with China and the United States leading the way in carbon neutrality scientific output. (ii) Following the outbreak of the COVID-19, the global center of global carbon neutrality shifted from the United States to China. (iii) During the COVID-19 pandemic, research ties between China and the United States strengthened. The number of joint publications on carbon neutrality between China and the United States has greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to those before. (iv) The proportion of China-U.S. cooperation in China's international cooperation has decreased, while it is the opposite for the United States. At the end of the article, we put forward relevant suggestions for realizing the sustainable development goals of climate change in the post-epidemic era for policymakers' reference. This paper provides important insights into the theoretical research of scholars in the carbon neutrality field.