Mapping Australia’s Indonesia Research Capability

• Bibliometric data shows that based on publication outputs, the research relationship between Australia and Indonesia has been strongest in the recent 5–10 years. 
   
  • Across 2014 to 2023, Australian-based researchers generated 6,000 publications about Indonesia across all fields of research – with this last decade representing 63% of all outputs, and 39% in the latter five years. 
     

  • Looking at co-authorship between Australian and Indonesian researchers, the data shows 8,500 publications were co-authored in the last ten years, of which 76% were published in that last decade, and an impressive 51% in last five years. 

     

• Australia is Indonesia’s fourth research partner by co-authorship, behind Malaysia, Japan and the United States. Indonesia is Australia’s 36th research partner by co-publication. That is, Australia has 35 national partners with whom the country publishes more with than Indonesia.

   

• By volume of publications about Indonesia, Australia ranks second in the world, behind only Indonesia itself. Much of this output stems from Australia’s historic commitment to supporting Indonesia’s development.

   

• Australia also performs strongly in terms of the proportion of Indonesia research that is collaborative, as measured by co-authorship – ranking fifth globally as one of Indonesia’s top collaborating partners. Further, between 2014 and 2023, more than half (55.26%) of Australia’s work ‘about’ Indonesia was produced working with an Indonesia-affiliated researcher. 

   

• Australia’s traditional research strengths in Indonesian language, society and culture have been foundational to the bilateral relationship, building capability on both sides in understanding local contexts and needs. However, we heard that as the study of Indonesian language and culture have declined in Australia in recent years, this has had flow-on effects to the efficacy of research collaboration. 

   

• Australia’s investment to encourage health and medical research with and about Indonesia has been long-lasting, with legacy collaborations generating a significant proportion of the overall collaborative publication output. By contrast, collaborations on energy transition research are still nascent and emerging, with new interest in forging research links. Across both research areas, there are important opportunities to develop and strengthen these collaborations in future. 

   

• Efforts to address mutual challenges facing Australia and Indonesia through collaborative research would benefit from multidisciplinary perspectives and reducing asymmetries in the research relationship. A commitment to language, communication, and cultural competencies set the stage for cross-disciplinary collaborations to be pursued and enhanced.

   

• Consultations uncovered challenges in collaboration that are common to many international research partnerships, as well as some that are specific to Australia-Indonesia work. A broader approach to research collaboration, which integrates an understanding of the research systems and cultures at play in the two countries, would help realise further mutual benefits of fruitful research collaboration between the two nations.

In July 2023, Australia’s Prime Minister and Indonesia’s President began their Joint Communique with two priorities. One, the building of strategic trust, provided an overall goal for research collaboration; the other, the energy transition, put the leaders ’seal on a shared challenge. Each country would ‘contribute to the common effort to attain an open, stable, and prosperous region’. Research, the most rigorous form of open, reasoned discovery and debate, is key to this agenda. The commitment by Australia’s Prime Minister and Indonesia’s President to establish research collaboration as a major pillar of the relationship between the two nations comes from a strong base. Landmark partnerships, primarily funded through DFAT development aid initiatives, have underpinned the growth of the bilateral research relationship to date. There are now four Australian 

Government policy agencies, at least five national research agencies, and three dozen Australian universities participating in Indonesia research. Yet Australian experts with deep experience of the relationship say that Australia’s research engagement with Indonesia is not as developed as Australia would like and is not keeping up with the rising importance and complexity of our nearest neighbour.1 It is clear that Australia’s research relations with Indonesia are changing gear. Most recently, Australia has committed to building quality knowledge partnerships with Indonesia through the AUD $65 million DFAT funded bilateral research collaboration program KONEKSI (2023–27). As larger opportunities come into view, there is an appetite on both sides to accelerate collaboration. But how do both countries make the most of this commitment and strong intention to collaborate to realise fruitful, mutually beneficial, enduring and sustainable bilateral research partnerships? This report, funded through the KONEKSI program, seeks to help answer that question. 

Through a status update and exploration of opportunities for research collaboration, it outlines the current state of Australia Indonesia bilateral research partnerships, informs where existing strengths can be found, explores how to make more of opportunities and how to better understand barriers. It also points to key principles to underpin future activity. This report primarily aims to map and inform understanding of Australia-Indonesia research collaborations including areas of Australia’s strengths, current gaps and future needs, and identify preliminary insights on the work needed to engage productively with Indonesia on research. This report maps ‘Australia’s Indonesia research’, first through a bibliometric analysis of publication outputs, followed by consultations and interviews. 

The report also takes a deeper dive into three areas of collaborative strength and/or potential – society and culture, health and medicine, and energy. The publication data outlines outputs by Australian researchers ‘about’ Indonesia (that is, with prominent mention of Indonesia in the content); and outputs ‘with’ Indonesia where there was co-authorship between an Australian and Indonesian researcher/s. The latter is used as a proxy for research collaboration. Bibliometric data can, however, only take us so far. It cannot reveal the quality of the engagements, future potential for collaboration, or barriers that may be hampering more sustainable and effective research partnerships. 

To help fill these gaps, consultations and interviews were conducted with Australian experts with deep experience in the Australia-Indonesia research relationship. This report tells only one side of the story. It studies Australia’s Indonesia research through the eyes of researchers based in Australia, with reference to bibliometrics on Australian research publications. It begs a sequel report; an Indonesian perspective on Indonesia’s capacity to collaborate with Australia. The report’s findings illustrate the complexity of building bilateral international research collaboration. A clearer view of these partnerships provided through this analysis can show what’s at stake, guide decision making, improve alignment and maximise the benefits for both partners.