The Science of Team Science

Many of today's biggest research questions cannot and will not be answered or solved by a single, lone-wolf researcher. Questions around climate change, diseases, genomics, etc. call for a brilliant and diverse set of researchers and thinkers...working together. Yet, academic institutions, where so many of these researchers are employed, are traditionally geared to support and promote independent researchers.

In the midst of this conundrum, several scholars have begun working together to develop a field that looks at how scientists can best collaborate and be productive. This field is referred to as Team Science, and the study of Team Science is referred to as The Science of Team Science (SciTS).

Team Science looks at several barriers or opportunities to promote effective collaborative science. According to NCI's description of Team Science, they include the following:

• Funding opportunities
• Institutional infrastructure and resources
• Organizational rules particularly around tenure and promotion
• Team processes: table-setting, early agreements, publication ownership, and a feedback loop on how collaboration works for everyone
• Interpersonal dynamics
• And collaborative skills among scientists

SciTS has been digging into these barriers to discover how Team Science can be best developed and promoted. For instance, recent SciTS articles have come out that look at how women are under-represented in team science, particularly in co-authored research and continued collaborative relationships with other Scientists.

Below are SciTS and Team Science resources for you to access if you're trying to better understand how you can effectively collaborate with other researchers while navigating the structural realities that can sometimes be barriers.  

Resources:
The Science of Team Science Website
Team Science Toolkit - NCI
Difference in collaboration patterns across discipline, career, and stages - PLOS Biology Journal
Rosalind's ghost: Biology, collaboration, and the female - PLOS Biology Journal