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 regions. 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/regions. Research limitations Only one period is tracked (2001-2021) and no attempt was made to validate the ancestral origins of any researcher. Practical implications Simple name heuristics can be used to identify the international spread of a sample of most countries’ diaspora researchers, but some manual checks of individual names are needed to weed out false matches. This can supplement mobile researcher data from bibliometric databases. Originality/value This is the first attempt to list name associations for the authors of all countries and large regions, and to identify the countries for which diaspora researchers could be tracked by name.