Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.

Academic collaboration is critical to knowledge production, especially as teams dominate scientific endeavors. Typical predictors of collaboration include individual characteristics such as academic rank or institution, and network characteristics such as a central position in a publication network....

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Main Authors: Amar Dhand, Douglas A Luke, Bobbi J Carothers, Bradley A Evanoff
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4711942?pdf=render
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author Amar Dhand
Douglas A Luke
Bobbi J Carothers
Bradley A Evanoff
author_facet Amar Dhand
Douglas A Luke
Bobbi J Carothers
Bradley A Evanoff
author_sort Amar Dhand
collection DOAJ
description Academic collaboration is critical to knowledge production, especially as teams dominate scientific endeavors. Typical predictors of collaboration include individual characteristics such as academic rank or institution, and network characteristics such as a central position in a publication network. The role of disciplinary affiliation in the initiation of an academic collaboration between two investigators deserves more attention. Here, we examine the influence of disciplinary patterns on collaboration formation with control of known predictors using an inferential network model. The study group included all researchers in the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) at Washington University in St. Louis. Longitudinal data were collected on co-authorships in grants and publications before and after ICTS establishment. Exponential-family random graph models were used to build the network models. The results show that disciplinary affiliation independently predicted collaboration in grant and publication networks, particularly in the later years. Overall collaboration increased in the post-ICTS networks, with cross-discipline ties occurring more often than within-discipline ties in grants, but not publications. This research may inform better evaluation models of university-based collaboration, and offer a roadmap to improve cross-disciplinary collaboration with discipline-informed network interventions.
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spelling doaj.art-309e6eedd8a54710b29b9bcd8577f2ad2022-12-22T00:53:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01111e014591610.1371/journal.pone.0145916Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.Amar DhandDouglas A LukeBobbi J CarothersBradley A EvanoffAcademic collaboration is critical to knowledge production, especially as teams dominate scientific endeavors. Typical predictors of collaboration include individual characteristics such as academic rank or institution, and network characteristics such as a central position in a publication network. The role of disciplinary affiliation in the initiation of an academic collaboration between two investigators deserves more attention. Here, we examine the influence of disciplinary patterns on collaboration formation with control of known predictors using an inferential network model. The study group included all researchers in the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) at Washington University in St. Louis. Longitudinal data were collected on co-authorships in grants and publications before and after ICTS establishment. Exponential-family random graph models were used to build the network models. The results show that disciplinary affiliation independently predicted collaboration in grant and publication networks, particularly in the later years. Overall collaboration increased in the post-ICTS networks, with cross-discipline ties occurring more often than within-discipline ties in grants, but not publications. This research may inform better evaluation models of university-based collaboration, and offer a roadmap to improve cross-disciplinary collaboration with discipline-informed network interventions.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4711942?pdf=render
spellingShingle Amar Dhand
Douglas A Luke
Bobbi J Carothers
Bradley A Evanoff
Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
PLoS ONE
title Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
title_full Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
title_fullStr Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
title_full_unstemmed Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
title_short Academic Cross-Pollination: The Role of Disciplinary Affiliation in Research Collaboration.
title_sort academic cross pollination the role of disciplinary affiliation in research collaboration
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4711942?pdf=render
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