Academia

Collaboration is widely considered essential to addressing complex scientific and societal problems that require the expertise of more than one discipline. Two reports speak to the need for research to be conducted in collaboration with disciplinary colleagues and across disciplinary silos. One report that frames the discussion of such need is the National Research Council’s “Facilitating interdisciplinary research” in which they set a future initiative to “stimulate new modes of inquiry and break down the conceptual and institutional barriers to interdisciplinary research that could yield significant benefits to science and society”. Similarly, 10 years later, the new report tilted “Enhancing the effectiveness of team science” reviews the successes of team science collaboration, not only for individual and institutional prestige, but at solving some of the most complex problems and developing innovative ideas for the benefit of society. Most notably, this shift towards collaboration has had an effect in the Nature journal, one of the most prestigious scientific journals globally, where in 2008 out of 700 reports published, only 6 were single authored.

While this in itself can provide proof of the benefits of collaboration in academia, disciplines discussed here that have greatly accepted collaboration as a norm in research and publication have been in the sciences (physical, social, life). What about humanities? An essay published in the Inside Higher Ed publication speaks to the experience of a doctoral student in a digital humanities project. Questions surrounding hierarchical power differences, authorship, tenure, and others always come up in the question of the benefits of collaboration in humanities. So what are the wide benefits of collaboration?

Here are some:

1. It reveals your writing processes and that of others;
2. It allows you to reflect on other people’s ideas and writing;
3. It enhances your reflectivity of research, writing, and teaching;
4. It opens possibilities for networking and long term collegiality relationships;
5. It provides a critical outlook at the providing solutions to societal problems.

The question should not be why we collaborate in academia, but instead how.

Initiating collaboration can be difficult. As an undergraduate and graduate student in the sciences, you are given the opportunities to be part of Team Science projects and contribute in the research process. This is seared into your of what scientific research should be so it becomes only natural that scientists, young and in training, accept such practice according to the lab in which they were trained in. The issue here is not whether it is accepted but if they recognize their collaborative practices. A topic that we review in another section.

In the humanities, this is not a norm and in some cases, highly argued against. Many reasons contribute to this, some related to the tenure policies of the University and standards in the discipline. However, this mentality has been less of the norm as research on promotion and tenure policies have suggested that these need to be assessed if the University widely is to continue to properly evaluate the research and development of all colleges.

Here are some strategies that help start a collaborative project:

1. Develop a purpose and focus
2. Establish roles and leaderships
3. Set milestones and accountability
4. Build capacity and support
5. Develop relationships with your collaborators

While these are not a solve all formula for collaboration and dependent on your collaboration endeavors, they help at recognizing the process of collaborative projects.