China and Europe networks in health. An empirical analysis on co-publications

China formally opened its economy in 1979, with the launch of the open door policy. The heart of this process has been knowledge acquisition, strongly pushed by the government mainly through incentives to collaborations with foreign firms and institutions. However, in more recent years, problems of long-term sustainability have started to be raised, especially on the necessity to couple the economic growth with an increase in the well-being of the population. Health is a pivotal sector in terms of impact on life quality of the population, as testified by the plethora of studies aimed at measuring the health-related quality of life. For this reason, to deepen the knowledge of the factors and the dynamics regulating enhancements in this field has become particularly relevant. Progress in health directly derives from progress made in scientific research, and publications are a widely recognised tool for the divulgation of knowledge in this field. In this framework, this paper analyses the evolution of international cooperation of Chinese institutions in health-related scientific fields, measured in terms of co-publications. Changes in Chinas position in the international scientific literature will be traced, focusing then on the current structure of co-authorships with the first five EU countries in terms of GDP and highlighting differences in the weight, the structure and the degree of complexity of the relation networks