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Collaborating on Scholarship: Best Practices for Team Research Projects
Abstract
Collaborating on scholarship has the potential to provide many advantages, including benefiting
from others’ expertise, reinforcing accountability, and providing motivation. However, working
with others is tricky—consider compatible work habits, receptivity to criticism, and commitment
to fulfill responsibilities. Decisions to be made include where to publish, in what order authors’
names will appear, and how the manuscripts will be written. Who will coordinate? Who will
write what? Who will revise? Also, consider how to address problems—missed deadlines, less-
than-stellar quality, how to say “no” in the future, and more.
Keywords: Collaboration; authorship; publishing; presentations
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Introduction
Planning and organization are essential for a successful collaborative scholarship project.
Although collaborators seldom discuss these elements in their publications or presentations, they
are nevertheless an important part of the research process. Planning and organization are crucial
because they provide a sound framework for a project. Once decisions are made and acted on,
the collaborators can focus on research and writing rather than spending their time on damage
control caused by poor planning. This article discusses the prevalence, benefits, and costs of
collaboration, followed by strategies for planning all aspects of a collaborative research project.
These aspects include selecting collaborators, agreeing on venues for presentations and
publications, agreeing on authorship credits, and identifying roles, responsibilities, and
expectations. Other aspects include creating a timeline, maintaining communication, using
technology, addressing problems, and managing post-project issues.
Prevalence of Collaboration
Collaboration in library and information science (LIS) scholarship is a widespread practice, as
documented in a variety of research studies. A series of studies examined the percentage of
articles co-authored by U.S. academic librarians in a sample of LIS journals. Percentages were
45 in 1993 through 1997 (Weller, Hurd, and Wiberley 1999); 41.09 in 1998 through 2002
(Wiberley, Hurd, and Weller 2006), and 51.04 in 2003 through 2012 (Blecic et al. 2017).
Other studies have analyzed the incidence of co-authored articles appearing in a particular
journal over time. For example, the percentage of articles with co-authors in College & Research
Libraries ranged from 4.35 percent in 1939 through 1944 (Cline 1982) to 45.9 percent in 1985
through 1988 (Metz 1989) and then to 59.5 percent in 1989 through 1994 (Terry 1996).
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Collaboration on conference papers also has increased. For example, Fennewald (2007)
investigated papers presented at Association for College and Research Libraries conferences
from 1978 through 2005. He found that the incidence of papers with two co-authors increased
from twenty-four percent in 1978 through 1984 to thirty-two percent in 2001 through 2005.
Furthermore, the incidence of papers with three to seven co-authors increased from seven percent
in 1978 through 1984 to twenty-one percent in 2001 through 2005.
Benefits and Costs of Collaboration
Collaborating on scholarship has the potential to provide many practical benefits. Collaborators
can provide expertise and ideas to improve a project (Hart 2000). Authors can learn new skills
and habits from their collaborators (Silvia 2015). Collaboration may allow authors to be more
productive because they are dividing the work with others (Fox and Faver 1982). A significant
relationship between collaboration and research outputs was documented in a study by
Hoffmann, Berg, and Koufogiannakis (2017). Some research has found a higher acceptance rate
for co-authored articles than for solo-authored articles, as noted in a study of submissions to
College & Research Libraries (Hernon, Smith, and Croxen 1993).
Collaborative projects also may result in social benefits. Collaboration provides a way to
increase one’s professional network (Jacobs, McIntosh, and O’Sullivan 2018). It may reduce a
sense of isolation sometimes felt by researchers who usually work alone (Fox and Faver 1984).
Collaborative projects may offer opportunities to mentor others in scholarship (Hart 2000).
Collaborators may hold each other accountable and provide motivation to complete projects
(Jacobs, McIntosh, and O’Sullivan 2018).
The costs of collaborative projects should be considered as well as the benefits. Fox and Faver
(1984) have identified process costs and outcome costs in collaboration. Process costs include
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the time and energy required not only for negotiating the details of a project, but also for
cultivating and sustaining interpersonal relationships with collaborators. Outcome costs may be
incurred if a collaborator contributes poor quality work or slows down the project. Such outcome
costs may be avoided in many cases by carefully selecting collaborators and agreeing on clearly
defined expectations.
Choosing Collaborators
Choosing team members is one of the most crucial steps of a collaborative project. Consider a
variety of intellectual, personal, and structural factors when assessing the qualifications of
potential team members (Fox and Faver 1982). Intellectual factors include expertise, theoretical
orientation, and interests. Personal factors comprise work habits, time management skills,
compatible personalities, receptivity to constructive criticism, and willingness to follow through
on commitments. Structural factors include the size of the team. Cassidy and Colmenares (2014)
recommend that the team be composed of a maximum of four individuals. Another structural
factor is the balance of power in a team, which is influenced by the status or ranks of the
participants (Ocampo and Gayles 2019). For example, the balance of power in a team made up of
two entry-level librarians would differ greatly from a team composed of an entry-level librarian
and a library dean.
Another factor to consider is potential team members’ experience in scholarship. Read articles
they have written to judge their experience in publication. View slideshows and recordings of
presentations they have made to evaluate their experience in presentations.
Once the team is complete, the process of planning the project begins. Although the team may be
led by a principal investigator or coordinator, all team members should participate in planning
the project in a democratic process (Cassidy and Colmenares 2014). Group harmony is more
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likely if all team members know their voices are being heard. The team should record its plans
and decisions in shared documents. Some teams accomplish this by writing formal agreements
that are signed by all participants (Jacobs, McIntosh, and O’Sullivan 2018).
Educating Inexperienced Collaborators
If the team includes inexperienced collaborators, other members of the team should educate them
so they will understand what is expected of them. If the project is a journal article, a team
member should explain the process of writing, revising, submitting an article for review, and
responding to reviewers’ comments. The team member also should provide examples of well-
written articles. More information about this topic may be found in Belcher (2019) and Silvia
(2015). If the project is a conference presentation, the team member should explain the process
of submitting a proposal as well as creating, revising, and delivering a presentation. The team
member also should provide examples of presentations with well-designed slides. Further
guidance may be found in Feldman and Silvia (2010) and Hilyer (2008).
Monitoring Opportunities
Collaborators should monitor opportunities for publications and presentations. One of the most
comprehensive sources is A Library Writer’s Blog (Seeman 2020). Other sources include library-
related electronic discussion lists which may include notices of publication and presentation
opportunities. Many directories of library-related electronic discussion lists are available,
including those maintained by the American Library Association (2020) and Loyola University
Chicago Libraries (2020). In addition, journal websites may include calls for papers. Likewise,
conference websites may include calls for proposals. Many library-related conference websites
may be accessed through directories such as those maintained by Georgia College (2020) and
Thull and Dworaczek (2020).