An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation.
Academic research is increasingly cross-disciplinary and collaborative, between and within institutions. In this context, what is the role and relevance of an individual's spatial position on a campus? We examine the collaboration patterns of faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2017-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5480888?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818837557293613056 |
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| author | Matthew Claudel Emanuele Massaro Paolo Santi Fiona Murray Carlo Ratti |
| author_facet | Matthew Claudel Emanuele Massaro Paolo Santi Fiona Murray Carlo Ratti |
| author_sort | Matthew Claudel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Academic research is increasingly cross-disciplinary and collaborative, between and within institutions. In this context, what is the role and relevance of an individual's spatial position on a campus? We examine the collaboration patterns of faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, through their academic output (papers and patents), and their organizational structures (institutional affiliation and spatial configuration) over a 10-year time span. An initial comparison of output types reveals: 1. diverging trends in the composition of collaborative teams over time (size, faculty versus non-faculty, etc.); and 2. substantively different patterns of cross-building and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We then construct a multi-layered network of authors, and find two significant features of collaboration on campus: 1. a network topology and community structure that reveals spatial versus institutional collaboration bias; and 2. a persistent relationship between proximity and collaboration, well fit with an exponential decay model. This relationship is consistent for both papers and patents, and present also in exclusively cross-disciplinary work. These insights contribute an architectural dimension to the field of scientometrics, and take a first step toward empirical space-planning policy that supports collaboration within institutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T03:24:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b45bba8bcff041698192635b44e7b5fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T03:24:24Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-b45bba8bcff041698192635b44e7b5fa2022-12-21T20:37:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01126e017933410.1371/journal.pone.0179334An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation.Matthew ClaudelEmanuele MassaroPaolo SantiFiona MurrayCarlo RattiAcademic research is increasingly cross-disciplinary and collaborative, between and within institutions. In this context, what is the role and relevance of an individual's spatial position on a campus? We examine the collaboration patterns of faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, through their academic output (papers and patents), and their organizational structures (institutional affiliation and spatial configuration) over a 10-year time span. An initial comparison of output types reveals: 1. diverging trends in the composition of collaborative teams over time (size, faculty versus non-faculty, etc.); and 2. substantively different patterns of cross-building and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We then construct a multi-layered network of authors, and find two significant features of collaboration on campus: 1. a network topology and community structure that reveals spatial versus institutional collaboration bias; and 2. a persistent relationship between proximity and collaboration, well fit with an exponential decay model. This relationship is consistent for both papers and patents, and present also in exclusively cross-disciplinary work. These insights contribute an architectural dimension to the field of scientometrics, and take a first step toward empirical space-planning policy that supports collaboration within institutions.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5480888?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Claudel Emanuele Massaro Paolo Santi Fiona Murray Carlo Ratti An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. PLoS ONE |
| title | An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. |
| title_full | An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. |
| title_fullStr | An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. |
| title_full_unstemmed | An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. |
| title_short | An exploration of collaborative scientific production at MIT through spatial organization and institutional affiliation. |
| title_sort | exploration of collaborative scientific production at mit through spatial organization and institutional affiliation |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5480888?pdf=render |
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