Can first or last name uniqueness help to identify diaspora researchers from any country?

Abstract

Purpose: Diaspora researchers work in one country but have ancestral origins in another, either through moves during a research career (mobile diaspora researchers) or by starting research in the target country (embedded diaspora researchers). Whilst mobile researchers might be tracked through affiliation changes in bibliometric databases, embedded researchers cannot. This article reports an evidence-based discussion of which countries’ diaspora researchers can be partially tracked using first or last names, addressing this limitation. Design/methodology/approach: A frequency analysis of first and last names of authors of all Scopus journal articles 2001-2021 for 200 countries or territories. Findings: There are great variations in the extent to which first or last names are uniquely national, from Monserrat (no unique first names) to Thailand (81% unique last names). Nevertheless, most countries have a subset of first or last names that are relatively unique. For the 50 countries with the most researchers, authors with relatively national names are always more likely to research their name-associated country, suggesting a continued national association. Lists of researchers’ first and last name frequencies and proportions are provided for 200 countries.