Open Access

This paper deals with international scientific cooperation. Using the example of German-Chinese research cooperation, it shows that – contrary to the positive expectations that are widely placed on international scientific cooperation – from the point of view of the scientists involved, such collaborations are associated with great uncertainty and often perceived as a risk. In such settings, trust becomes particularly important. Based on a systematic metaphor analysis conducted as part of a qualitative interview study with German and Chinese STEM researchers, it becomes clear that different types of trust exist in Sino-German scientific collaborations. The empirical material will be used to show that the framing with one or the other type of trust has an influence on how scientists organize their respective collaboration in practice. The study contributes to shifting the focus of research on scientific cooperation to the interpersonal level in addition to the organisational level. Besides contractual framework conditions, collaborations need one thing above all: trusting relationships on a personal level.