Studying the historical development of interorganizational networks of RCs will uncover the lingering influence of past network structures and positions of research-producing organizational forms and organizations. Past ties have an influence on (the expansion of) research collaborations, with interactions between actors within a network reproduced over time as well as between organizations. Examining the conditions for research collaborations will facilitate analysis of the networks’ persistence, since new entrants into a network imitate the existing structural patterns of already existing network members. Concretely, we aim to apply these theoretical approaches and empirically chart differences between organizational forms, disciplines, regions, and organizations. In sum, we present these institutional and organizational theories, their major tenets, and their boundaries. Then, we compare their usefulness and explore their potential synergy in conceptualizing a multi-level model self-reinforcing growth in the conditions for research collaboration networks within the German higher education and science system, including their international partners. We aim to leverage this theorization to make sense of the dramatic growth of collaboration that has driven the growth of scientific production in Germany, especially from the 1970s. Theoretically, the various approaches, oriented to different levels of analysis, require further articulation and testing of their applicability. Yet the discussion of these approaches will hopefully provide a better understanding of the constraints and enabling factors that have led to the on-going pure exponential growth in research collaborations in Germany over the past decades.