Can scientists remain internationally visible after the return to their home country? A study of Chinese scientists

Returning scientists play a critical role in building up the academic workforce and
science in their home country. Still, it is unclear whether return mobility limits scientists’ international relevance and thus international knowledge diffusion. Here we take scientists returning to China as a sample to investigate the effect of return mobility on international impact and explore the roles of the international collaboration and international knowledge base in this effect. We find that returnee scientists experience a decline in international impact compared to a control group of scientists who do not return, which can largely be attributed to
a decrease in international collaboration. We further show that the importance of international collaboration increases post-return, moderating the effect of return mobility. Overall, these findings clarify the limitation of return mobility and provide some empirical evidence on the limits of global knowledge diffusion in science and talent attraction policies.