He finds that collaboration offers many benefits, among these speed, power and efficiency of research; breadth and synergy of projects; reduced risk of ventures; and feedback, dissemination, and visibility of results.
The article reviews past research, seeks to understand present thinking about collaboration, and speculates about the future, focusing on technologies like email and the Internet.
Collaboration was a relatively rare event until World War I, after which it grew at a much more rapid rate with teamwork or giant collaborations multiplying after World War II.
Two facts of interest were apparent early on - a collaborative first paper meant above average productivity later and elite scientific journals published disproportionately more collaborative papers than did less prestigious journals. They still do. Today over 90 percent of papers in some journals are collaborative.
The organization of scientific research has changed over the years, from associations of two to four individuals a new paradigm of collaboration has emerged, that of teamwork, or giant collaborations, which dominates today. Arising out of the organizational pattern used in high-energy physics after World War II, teamwork has spread to fields such as molecular biology and biomedical research.
"As globalization and internationalization continue," writes Beaver, "emphasis on cooperation and group life become an increasingly common counterpoint to an existing emphasis on competition and individuality."
Beaver looks at how the collaborative model was incorporated into research design at major universities, where professors or primary investigators work with post-doctoral students, graduate students, and sometimes with undergraduates.
He also identifies the importance of email to research programs, writing that "generally, research is impossible without it." Beaver notes that this new interconnectedness has revolutionized how research collaboration occurs and who its participants are, expanding possibilities for international partnerships.
"Globalization will lead to greater geographical diversity of collaborators, be they individuals, laboratories, or institutes," he writes. "Physical location is no longer a barrier to the free and easy exchange of information. Indeed, it may be the case that the advent of email had already begun to increase diversity in geographical locations."
In addition, Beaver interviewed professors at Williams College, an undergraduate liberal arts college, "to help provide a useful comparative perspective for enhancing our understanding." In those interviews, done in the summer of 2000, the motivations for collaboration ran from access to expertise, equipment, and funding to professional advancement, from the ability to tackle "bigger" problems to networking.
The value of further study of collaboration would be especially useful to policymakers, Beaver says, as funding bodies attempt to create attainable requirements for collaboration.
"Collaboration is increasingly required by funding agencies, and is also increasingly international," he said. "Understanding collaboration can help make requirements realistic and effective, and can lead to better evaluation of the results of policy."
Beaver has been at Williams since 1971, having previously taught history of science at Franklin and Marshall College, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1958 and his Ph.D. in history of science from Yale in 1966.
Contact
Donald deB Beaver (413) 597-2239
Email: Donald.deB.Beaver@williams.edu
Journal
Scientometrics