Peer effects of the young returnee scientists: Evidence from the state key laboratories in China

Attracting overseas scientists back to their home countries is an important scientific policy in the era of globalization. The returnee scientists not only have the potential to make high academic achievements by themselves but are also expected to influence other scientists. Using a data-set of 1,006 scientists from Chinese State Key Laboratories, this study finds that recruiting young returnee scientists has a positive effect on the number of their peer's highly-cited articles. It is also found that the peer effect is not achieved through the promotion of international collaborations of local scientists. It may be realized through other mechanisms, such as knowledge spillovers. As shown in the heterogeneity analysis, the adaptation of returnee scientists and the absorptive capacity of local scientists have an impact on the peer effects of the returnees, which reflects that knowledge dissemination and absorption play significant roles in the returnee's peer effect.