how to find research paper collaboration

Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

8 Steps to Find the Best Research Collaborators

The pursuit of knowledge transcends borders and cultural boundaries, and research collaborators are increasingly coming together to make some incredible discoveries. A more globalized world creates more opportunities for academics to work together, pooling in their expertise, backgrounds, and strategies. In this article, we’ll outline the many advantages of collaborative research with tips to help you find and work with research collaborators.

Table of Contents

Benefits of collaborative research

Finding the right research collaborators and partnering with international counterparts can be a game-changer for your research. While working with research collaborators from different fields offers a blend of unique perspectives, it also allows access to specialized equipment, funding opportunities, and research facilities that would not otherwise be possible. This, in turn, results in a comprehensive, multidimensional, high-quality research study that can contribute significantly to addressing global challenges and create more meaningful impact. Collaborative research studies often have a better chance of publication in international journals, helping the research collaborators reach a wider group of readers across the world. Engaging with international research collaborators also fosters cross-cultural understanding, which goes a long way in helping you build a network of peers that you can tap for exciting research opportunities in the future.

Challenges in finding the right research collaborators

Despite the many benefits and growing collaborative research trends , finding the right partners or research collaborators can be a challenge. This rings especially true for early career researchers and individuals lacking an established network of peers and mentors. Overcoming language and cultural barriers can prove daunting, complicating the process further. Moreover, given the differences in the way research is conducted across the world, it is common to have misunderstandings, disagreements, and lapses in communication that could hamper progress. So, if you are looking for answers to how and where you can find international research collaborators, then continue reading.

How to find international research collaborators

• Define and specify your research objectives: Being clear about your research goals is a good way to start your search for international research collaborators who may share your vision. Consider your research question, methodology, and the kind of skills and support your project will require. This will help you to remain on track with your research work and will also make it simpler for you to communicate your needs and collaborate more effectively.
• Attend and participate in international seminars and conferences: Being a part of seminars, conferences, and academic forums are a great way to meet and interact with peers and researchers from around the world and learn about their work. Given that most academic and scientific events have networking sessions, you will find plenty of opportunities to learn about ongoing research in your field and connect with like-minded peers, who may be great potential research collaborators.
• Use online platforms and join professional research communities: Invest some extra effort by utilizing digital tools, online platforms like LinkedIn, and professional organizations and communities that provide access to a network of researchers from around the world. Consider reaching out to peers and colleagues at other institutions who are engaged in similar research to see if there are any chances of working together. You can identify potential collaboration opportunities by actively networking on both online and offline platforms and by joining professional groups.
• Find opportunities to collaborate on existing projects: If you are already working on a project, it can be a good idea to think about asking international colleagues to join you as research collaborators if you feel they can offer value. Seeking input on an existing project or offering assistance to others who may need help is a great way to build relationships that can lead to future research collaborations.
• Look for relevant research grants and funding opportunities: Many funding agencies today offer international research grants that require collaboration between researchers from different countries. Applying for these grants can provide you with an opportunity to work with international research collaborators and expand the reach of your research.
• Seek out researchers who have similar research interests: Review published articles and journals to identify and reach out to researchers. If their skills and research interests align with your project goals and needs, it may be a good idea to contact them directly via email or social media to inquire about the possibility of a collaboration. Remember to be clear not just about the work at hand but also about the potential benefits of collaboration for both parties.
• Be sensitive to cultural and geographic differences: It is imperative to ensure that there is no ambiguity when communicating with research collaborators. Find solutions to possible logistical and cultural barriers, such as language or differences in working styles and research methodologies. Consider time zone differences when scheduling meetings and discussions and be open to receiving inputs and feedback and be willing to commit to the project.
• Communicate and formalize goals and expectations: Once you have established contact, discuss expectations and goals for the research collaboration and formalize them through a written agreement that outlines the terms of the collaboration.

Finding the right research collaborator takes time and effort and can be challenging even for experienced researchers. Hopefully, the tips listed above will help you increase your chances of finding a research collaborator who shares your interests, skills, and goals, leading to better research outcomes.

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5 proven ways to find co-authors to collaborate with

Co-authorship can be an efficient (and fun!) way to work on research publications. However, finding a suitable co-author is not always easy. Here are five proven ways to find co-authors to help you get started with your search for academic collaborators.

1. Finding co-authors in your department or lab

The search for a suitable co-author often starts in a researcher’s immediate work environment : Deciding whether someone could be a good match to co-author a publication is easier when you know the person.

Thematic interests and expertise are crucial for co-authorship. However, interpersonal aspects should not be disregarded. Too often, the success or failure of a co-authored publication depends on the relationship between co-authors.

On the other hand, you may have had several interesting chats with a colleague at the coffee machine. You admire that colleague’s work, and you seem to get along well. Maybe this could be your next co-author?

For instance, you should make agreements on the author order, task divisions, and a timeline before embarking on a joint publication! These strategies prevent future conflicts! And preventing conflicts is particularly important if your co-author is a direct colleague.

2. Finding co-authors at conferences

Therefore, the chance that you meet someone at a conference who shares your research interest is high. This is a good pre-condition for finding a suitable co-author!

If you search for a co-author at a conference, make sure to

3. Finding co-authors through cold-emailing

Follow the general guidelines for cold-emailing researchers. For instance, clearly state the purpose of your email, use the right formalities, and be concise.

You should be prepared for a no when you go the cold-emailing route. Or for not receiving an answer at all. At the same time, cold-emailing has been the start of many successful co-authorship collaborations. So it is worth a try!

4. Finding co-authors through common connections

It often takes several years to develop a strong network in academia. Therefore, supervisors and other senior colleagues play an important role in introducing you to the right people.

This strategy has two benefits: First, your supervisors or senior colleagues can recommend people who complement your work. Second, they can recommend people who they think would be good fit character-wise.

5. Finding co-authors via #AcademicTwitter

Even if you are currently not looking for a co-author, it is good to be active on Twitter. It can provide opportunities in the future.

(Master Academia is very active on Twitter. If you have no success with your quest for a co-author on Twitter, feel free to tag @MasterAcademia_ in your tweet. Alternatively, you can contact me via a direct message on Twitter. I can either point you in the right direction, help you to reformulate your tweet to improve your chances of success, or share your request.)

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10 Key Steps to Secure Effective Academic Research Collaboration

Oct 6, 2023 | Research FAQs

How Can I Effectively Collaborate with Other Researchers on a Project?

Research collaboration is a fundamental aspect of academia that has gained increasing prominence in recent years. It refers to the practice of multiple researchers working together on a common project, sharing their expertise, resources, and ideas to achieve a common goal. In today’s complex academic landscape, research collaboration has become indispensable, as it allows scholars to tackle complex problems, pool resources, and produce innovative solutions. In this article, we will explore the strategies, benefits, challenges, and key tips for effective research collaboration. Whether you are a student embarking on your first collaborative project or an experienced researcher seeking to enhance your collaboration skills, this guide will provide you with valuable insights and actionable advice.

10 Key Steps to Secure Effective Collaboration

#1 establish clear objectives and roles.

Successful research collaboration begins with a clear understanding of project objectives and the roles of each team member. Define the scope, goals, and expected outcomes of the project from the outset. For example, in a study on renewable energy sources, one researcher may focus on solar energy technology, while another specialises in wind energy. By delineating roles, you ensure that each team member contributes their unique expertise effectively.

The foundation of a successful research collaboration lies in the establishment of clear objectives and the definition of each team member’s roles. These objectives serve as guiding lights throughout the project, ensuring that everyone involved is on the same page. When embarking on a project, it’s essential to delineate the scope, goals, and expected outcomes right from the outset. For example, in a study centred around renewable energy sources, you might have one team member focusing on solar energy technology, while another specialises in wind energy. This clear division of responsibilities ensures that each team member can leverage their unique expertise effectively.

Example: The Human Genome Project, a monumental collaboration involving multiple research institutions, had a clear objective: to map and understand all the genes of the human genome. Different teams were responsible for various aspects of this ambitious project, from sequencing to data analysis.

#2 Select Complementary Team Members

Collaborative success often hinges on assembling a team with complementary skills, knowledge, and backgrounds. Seek individuals who bring diverse perspectives and expertise to the table. Collaborators should enhance, rather than duplicate, each other’s strengths.

The composition of your collaborative team plays a critical role in its success. Collaborative efforts thrive when the team members possess complementary skills, knowledge, and backgrounds. It’s not just about gathering a group of experts; it’s about finding individuals whose strengths bolster one another. Seek out collaborators who bring diverse perspectives to the table. Instead of duplicating skills, they should enhance each other’s strengths, resulting in a more robust and well-rounded research team.

Example: In a study examining the impact of climate change on coastal ecosystems, researchers with backgrounds in marine biology, environmental science, and climate modelling might collaborate to provide a comprehensive analysis.

#3 Establish Effective Communication Channels

Communication is the lifeblood of research collaboration. Choose efficient communication tools and platforms that facilitate seamless information sharing, such as project management software, video conferencing, and cloud-based document sharing. Regular meetings and updates are essential to keep the team aligned.

In the digital age, effective communication is the lifeblood of research collaboration. To ensure seamless information sharing, it’s imperative to choose communication tools and platforms that are both efficient and convenient. Project management software, video conferencing, and cloud-based document sharing are just a few examples. Regular meetings and updates are also crucial to keep the team aligned and informed about progress, challenges, and adjustments in the research process.

Example: Researchers from different time zones can use virtual collaboration tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to ensure real-time communication and document sharing.

#4 Develop a Research Collaboration Agreement

A research collaboration agreement is a formal document that outlines the terms, responsibilities, and expectations of all collaborators. It helps prevent misunderstandings and conflicts by clearly defining issues like authorship, data ownership, and intellectual property rights.

A research collaboration agreement is more than a formality; it’s a safeguard for your project. This formal document outlines the terms, responsibilities, and expectations of all collaborators, preventing misunderstandings and conflicts down the line. 

Key issues, such as authorship, data ownership, and intellectual property rights, should be clearly defined. This agreement provides a solid foundation on which the collaboration can thrive.

Example: In a collaboration between a university and a pharmaceutical company to develop a new drug, the research collaboration agreement would specify how any resulting patents and royalties would be shared.

#5 Leverage Technology for Data Sharing

With the increasing volume of data in research, effective data sharing is crucial. Employ secure and standardised methods for data storage, access, and sharing to ensure data integrity and accessibility among collaborators .

With the exponential growth of data in research, effective data sharing is paramount. Collaborators should employ secure and standardised methods for data storage, access, and sharing. This not only ensures data integrity but also facilitates accessibility among team members. The right technology can make data management more efficient, allowing the team to focus on analysis and interpretation.

Example: Large-scale particle physics experiments, like those at CERN, rely on advanced data-sharing infrastructure to process and analyse vast amounts of data from experiments conducted by researchers worldwide.

#6 Foster a Collaborative Culture

Building a collaborative culture within your research team is vital. Encourage open dialogue, value diverse perspectives, and promote a culture of trust and respect. A positive collaborative environment enhances creativity and problem-solving.

Beyond logistics, building a collaborative culture within your research team is vital. Encouraging open dialogue, valuing diverse perspectives, and promoting a culture of trust and respect can transform your research environment. Such an atmosphere encourages creativity and problem-solving, as team members feel safe sharing ideas and taking calculated risks.

Example: The Linux operating system is a product of global collaboration, with thousands of developers contributing their expertise voluntarily, driven by a shared passion for open-source software.

#7 Manage Conflicts Effectively

Conflicts can arise in any collaborative situation. Address them promptly and constructively. Encourage team members to express concerns and work together to find solutions. A conflict resolution plan can help mitigate disputes.

No matter how well-organised a research collaboration is, conflicts can still arise. The key is to address them promptly and constructively. Encouraging team members to express concerns and work together to find solutions can turn conflicts into opportunities for growth. Having a pre-established conflict resolution plan in place can provide a roadmap for mitigating disputes, ensuring they don’t derail the project.

Example: In a research project studying the effects of a new medical treatment, disagreements among researchers on the interpretation of clinical trial results were resolved through impartial data analysis and discussion.

#8 Celebrate Achievements and Milestones

Recognise and celebrate the achievements and milestones reached throughout the collaboration. Acknowledging the contributions of team members fosters a sense of accomplishment and motivates continued collaboration.

Recognising and celebrating the achievements and milestones reached throughout the collaboration is essential for morale and motivation. Acknowledging the contributions of team members fosters a sense of accomplishment and a desire to continue collaborating on future endeavours.

These celebrations can be both formal, such as awards or acknowledgments in publications, and informal, like team gatherings or acknowledgments in meetings.

Example: In a collaborative effort to map the human brain, researchers marked significant discoveries and breakthroughs with publications, press releases, and public presentations.

#9 Evaluate and Reflect on the Collaboration

Periodically assess the progress and effectiveness of the collaboration. Collect feedback from team members to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments to the research process .

Periodic reflection on the collaboration’s progress and effectiveness is necessary for continuous improvement. Collecting feedback from team members can reveal areas where adjustments are needed in the research process. This feedback loop ensures that the collaboration remains dynamic and responsive to changing circumstances and project requirements.

Example: Research institutions often conduct post-project evaluations to gauge the impact and success of collaboration, allowing for continuous improvement.

#10 Disseminate Findings and Share Knowledge

Effective research collaboration should culminate in the dissemination of findings to the academic community and beyond. Publish papers, present at conferences, and engage in knowledge-sharing activities to ensure the research has a meaningful impact.

Effective research collaboration culminates in the dissemination of findings to the academic community and beyond. Publishing papers, presenting at conferences, and engaging in knowledge-sharing activities are essential steps to ensure that the research has a meaningful impact. It’s the bridge that connects your collaborative efforts with the broader world, allowing others to benefit from your collective expertise and discoveries.

Example: Collaborative research in astronomy led to the publication of ground-breaking discoveries, such as the first image of a black hole, which captured global attention and expanded our understanding of the cosmos.

Key Collaboration Tips

Clear Communication : Maintain open and frequent communication with your collaborators to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Collaborative Tools : Utilise digital tools and platforms to streamline collaboration and data sharing.

Conflict Resolution : Develop a plan for addressing conflicts that may arise during the research collaboration.

Feedback Loop : Regularly seek feedback from team members to improve the collaboration’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Publication Plan : Discuss authorship and publication plans early in the project to avoid disputes later.

In the ever-evolving landscape of academia, research collaboration stands as a beacon of progress and innovation. It empowers scholars to pool their knowledge, skills, and resources, thereby tackling complex challenges and making substantial contributions to their fields. However, effective research collaboration demands careful planning, clear communication, and a commitment to nurturing a collaborative culture.

As you embark on your collaborative journey, remember the importance of defining clear objectives, selecting complementary team members, and establishing robust communication channels. Develop a research collaboration agreement, leverage technology for data sharing, and foster a culture of collaboration within your team. Be prepared to manage conflicts constructively and celebrate your achievements along the way. Regular evaluation and knowledge dissemination will ensure that your collaborative efforts have a lasting impact on your field.

Useful Resources

Research collaboration is not without its challenges, but with the right strategies and a dedicated team, you can overcome them and contribute to the advancement of knowledge. Embrace the opportunities that research collaboration offers, and may your collaborative endeavours lead to ground-breaking discoveries and meaningful contributions to your academic discipline.

Way With Words – Offers professional transcription services that can assist in research collaboration efforts by providing accurate and timely transcriptions of academic materials, interviews, and meetings.

Research Gate – A platform that connects researchers, providing access to a vast repository of academic papers and collaborative research opportunities.

Engagement Questions

• What challenges have you encountered in your research collaborations, and how did you address them?  
• How do you think emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, will impact the future of research collaboration?
• Can you share an example of a research collaboration that had a significant impact on your academic field, and what lessons can be drawn from it?

• Empower Your Research
• Collaborators

How to Find Research Collaborators

Introduction.

If you’re thinking of doing a research project, it’s important to find collaborators for your research project. You want someone who is well-equipped to help you with your project, and someone who can contribute their own ideas and expertise.

Asking for help is never easy—it can feel like you’re admitting that you’re not perfect or don’t have all the answers. But at the end of the day, collaboration is what makes research possible. A good collaborator will help make your project better, as well as bring their own unique perspective on things.

If you’re not sure where to start looking for collaborators, here are some places we recommend:

If you’re looking to find a research collaborator , it’s critical to think about what you want from the collaboration.

First, evaluate your own skills and interests. Do you have any experience with data analysis? Are you interested in working on research that requires field work? Do you want to work with other people or just by yourself?

Next, think about what kind of research you want to do. If there’s a specific area of study that interests you, then search for collaborators who have done research in that area before. If there’s not, think about what type of topic or subject would be interesting to explore, and see if anyone else has already explored it.

How to Find Great Collaborators

Good scientists and collaborators can sometimes come from unexpected places.

To find collaborators for your research projects can be tough. It takes time to find people, then it is hard to know whether they will work out and deliver results on time. This blog post covers a few helpful tips for finding and collaborating with research collaborators.

Making your scientific research go further often comes down to finding new collaborators. Finding the right lab, team or specialist is a challenge.

Scientific researchers have a far greater chance of being successful if they can widen their network of contacts and access more resources.

Finding Your Collaborators

When you’re looking for collaborators, it can be a bit tricky. You might want to find someone who shares your interests, or someone who’s just as passionate about the project as you are. But how do you know if they’ll work well with you?

The best way to find collaborators is to start small—you don’t need to find someone who’s going to be your best friend forever right off the bat. Just try getting together with another person (or group) and see how it goes! If things go well, maybe you’ll want to keep working together on future projects. If not, no harm, no foul—you tried something new and learned something about yourself in the process.

Use Collaboratory

Find collaborators for your research project with Collaboratory. Collaboratory is a platform that connects scientists. If a scientist is on Collaboratory, that means that they are actively looking for a research collaborator.

Scientists are all about collaboration, but it can be hard to find new collaborators . Collaboratory helps scientists discover and connect to potential collaborators.

Go to Conferences

If you’re looking for a research collaborator, going to conferences is a great way to find one.

First, make sure that the conference is relevant to your field. If you are a veterinarian and the conference is on astronomy, this isn’t going to be a good place to find someone who can help with your work.

Second, look at the program and see if there are any sessions that seem like they would be interesting or relevant to your research interests. You might want to consider attending these sessions even if they don’t relate directly to what you do just in case there’s someone at the session who could become a good collaborator.

Third, talk with other attendees! A lot of people go alone, so it’s easy to strike up conversations with others who share similar interests or goals. This can be an excellent way to meet potential collaborators who might not have been included in the official program schedule but are still attending the conference.

Write a Blog Post or Journal Article

If you want to find research collaborators, the best place to start is by writing blog posts or journal articles. When you write an article and get it published in a journal, you’re making yourself visible to others who are doing similar work. This can help them find you and vice versa.

You can also use your blog posts as a way to get more involved in your community. By writing about your own experiences and what you’ve learned from conducting research, you can help others who are just starting out with their own projects. This is another way that people will notice what you do—and remember it!

Reach Out via Social Media

It can be hard to find research collaborators, especially if you’re new to the field. The good news? Social media is a great place to start!

When you’re looking for someone to work with, check out their social media accounts first. Does their work align with yours? Do they seem like people you’d want to work with? Are they on LinkedIn or Twitter? You can also see what other researchers they follow or retweet—that’s a good indicator of whether they’ll be interested in working with you.

If you have an idea for a project that involves multiple researchers, don’t be afraid to reach out! We live in an age where it’s easier than ever before to connect with other people online. Just make sure your message is clear and polite—you’ll get farther that way!

Join a Professional Organization

Professional organizations like the American Chemical Society and the American Geophysical Union host networking events, often including happy hours and meet-and-greet sessions, where you can meet fellow researchers in person and discuss potential collaboration opportunities.

How to Find Collaborators in Research

Finding collaborators in research can be a bit of a challenge. But if you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll be able to find them! First, we recommend reaching out to your professors and other faculty members at your school. They’re usually very happy to help students who are trying to find ways to get involved with their research.

If that doesn’t work, try reaching out on Twitter and other social media platforms. You never know who’s going to respond! The key is just being proactive and willing to do some legwork.

How to Find a Collaboration Partner

If you’re looking for a collaboration partner, there are a couple of ways to go about it.

First, you can just start looking around and talking to people. You’ll probably find that people who are working on similar projects and have similar skills sets as you will be more likely to collaborate with you. If you do this, however, make sure to be respectful of their time and try not to bother them too often.

Second, if you’d rather not go about it this way or just want to make sure your search is more efficient, try using an online collaboration platform . You can use these platforms to connect with other people who are looking for collaboration partners, as well as those who already have one or more collaborators already in place.

Find collaborators for your research project with the help of this guide.

Collaborate With Strong Networks

That’s why Collaboratory exists—to make it easier to find the partners, mentors, and resources you need to succeed.

Collaboratory is built by scientists for scientists. We understand how busy researching can be, so we’ve made it as easy as possible for you to connect with others through our platform.

Collaboratory provides a platform where scientists like yourself can come together and share ideas , creating a network that makes it easy for scientists to do what they do best: build knowledge!

You can quickly create and manage your profile, which will give others the information they need to find you based on your research interests and expertise.

How to find collaborators for your research project? As you see, it isn’t the easiest job in the world, but it’s certainly doable. For starters, keep your networks diverse and wide-reaching. Attend conferences, join professional groups, reach out to colleagues you haven’t interacted with in a while—there are plenty of ways to find someone who may be a good fit for you. Do your research (look at their background, their interests), make sure your personalities mesh, and go for it! Good luck!

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Collaborative Writing: How to Write a Scientific Paper with Collaborators & Co-Authors

Are you dreading writing that research paper with your scientific collaborators? Have you had awful experiences with authorship disputes or endless rounds of revising a manuscript? Here’s a system to make the collaborative writing process enjoyable and efficient for everyone.

If you have published a scientific paper, chances are you weren’t the only author. Research is no longer done by lone wolves but rather a collaborative effort. You might have co-authored a piece with your supervisor, your PhD or undergraduate students, a PostDoc or whole groups of collaborators. Whether your research collaboration is overseas or across the corridor, you’ve probably felt the challenges of working on a manuscript with a group of people.

In this blog post, I’m sharing collaborative writing strategies with you that make sure your collaborative paper a) gets written efficiently, b) won’t make you hate your collaborators and c) becomes that stellar piece you had in mind when you set up the scientific collaboration. Here’s what we will cover:

• The collaborative writing process (3 crucial steps and questions to discuss with your co-authors)
• Collaborative writing strategies
• Case studies illustrating what collaborative writing can feel like when done right
• Conclusions on this article on collaborative writing and what to do next

The collaborative writing process

There are three crucial checkpoints at which you should have a discussion with the members of your research collaboration: At the start of the collaboration, before you start writing the paper and after the first paper draft is completed.

I will walk you through what to discuss at each checkpoint below so that your collaborative writing goes smoothly.

Here is an overview what the ideal collaborative writing process looks like:

• Step: Set the premises for your research collaboration
• Step: Plan the collaborative paper writing
• Step: Revise the co-written scientific paper

Let’s look at each point specifically.

1. STEP: Set the premises for your research collaboration

There are some things you best discuss way before you are writing up the findings of your research collaboration. Ideally, you and your collaborators should have a meeting at the very start of your project and agree on these crucial points:

Who owns the collaborative writing project?

What is every co-author’s responsibility, what is the timeline for the paper, how will your research collaboration communicate.

Here’s what to discuss for each point in detail:

The owner of the project is the one who is responsible for keeping the project on track, following up with the members of the collaboration, arranging meetings… They will likely be the corresponding (and/or first or last) author of the manuscript. This role does not need to be a principal investigator (PI) – in fact, most early-career researchers will probably appreciate the role and get lots of valuable project management experience out of it.

Every member of the research collaboration should have a specific task they can be held accountable for. This could be a certain part of the lab work, supervision of a certain task etc.

The timeline of the project is best discussed from the start. When should the compound be synthesised and when are the simulation results due? Make sure every collaborator has enough available time in their schedule to complete their task. It surely is hard to estimate when the whole project will be finished or the paper submitted. Nevertheless, I recommend agreeing on an end date because it helps everyone to keep on track and stay motivated.

Every member should specify by what means they would like to communicate. The default here is probably email but do consider platforms such as Slack. It allows you to create polls, upload documents and discuss topics in threads. Just a note of warning: They can speed up communication but they can also become a huge time waster. In order to use Slack or similar tools efficiently I suggest defining how often you expect everyone to check their messages and reply.

And even if you choose email as the communication tool of your research collaboration, agree on acceptable response times and for what type of discussions to schedule a synchronous meeting instead.

 Does collaborative writing for a high-impact journal feel intimidating? Partly because you’ve never received proper academic writing training? In this free online training, Dr Anna Clemens introduces you to her template to write papers in a systematic fashion with your co-authors . Click the orange button below to watch now or to save for later.

2. STEP: PLAN THE COLLABORATIVE PAPER WRITING

Once your scientific collaboration yielded promising results that you would like to write up in a research paper, it’s time to have another meeting with your co-authors. Resist the urge to start writing the scientific paper immediately!

Now is the time to discuss the collaborative writing process. The points of discussion are similar to those at your initial meeting with some crucial adjustments and additions:

• What is the order of authorship?
• Who’s in charge of writing what?
• Who has the final word?
• What’s the timeline for the paper?
• What’s the story of the co-written paper?
• What is your target journal?
• Which collaborative writing tools are you going to use?

Here’s what to discuss.

WHAT IS THE ORDER OF AUTHORSHIP?

Reassess if it still makes sense to keep the project owner in their role. It might be that the research shifted focus and that it would make more sense now for another member of the group to direct the collaborative writing process.

It makes sense that the project owner is either the first or last and possibly corresponding author — this also depends on the conventions in your research field. In addition to the responsibilities of the project owner outlined earlier, they should also be in charge of compiling the pieces of writing from various collaborators into one uniform manuscript and submitting it.

Now is also a good time to agree on the remaining order of authors. If you struggle with this, check out this guide by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and these tips from Naturejobs.

WHO’S IN CHARGE OF WRITING WHAT?

Who’s writing which part of the scientific paper? Remember to discuss with your scientific collaborators the Introduction and Discussion sections in particular, as they likely need real collaborative effort. You may want to schedule further meetings to discuss the content and structure of those sections.

WHO HAS THE FINAL WORD?

Who among the collaborators will have the power to decide, e.g. what title , abstract and conclusions you are going with?  

WHAT’S THE TIMELINE FOR THE PAPER?

Now is a good time to revise your collaborative writing plan (if you haven’t yet): In what time frame could any remaining research be completed? What should the deadlines be for the different members of the research collaboration to finish their part of the writing? When do you expect to have a first draft?

WHAT’S THE STORY OF THE CO-WRITTEN PAPER?

All of the collaborators should agree on and be aware of the story you want to tell in your scientific paper. Inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy, our academic writing course , we provide you with a template that helps you define all elements of the story of your scientific paper easily. I highly recommend to have the story of your co-written paper saved in a separate document that is accessible to all members of your research collaboration.

Encourage your co-authors to have this story document opened up or printed out whenever they are writing their part of the paper to make sure the resulting paper is telling a coherent story!

WHAT IS YOUR TARGET JOURNAL?

Do make a decision about your target journal BEFORE anyone on your scientific collaboration starts writing. The choice of target journal determines your story (see above), the selection of data to include, the lengths of sections, the word count of abstract, title etc. Not choosing a target journal at this stage of your collaborative writing process will mean that you will spend more time editing the completed draft. Anyone who has ever experienced an editing nightmare with their co-authors knows that that’s better to be avoided! I recommend clearly stating the target journal on the story document mentioned above.

WHICH COLLABORATIVE WRITING TOOLS ARE YOU GOING TO USE?

Decide on one writing program everyone in the research collaboration will use so that the person who is compiling the different parts of the paper isn’t overly burdened with converting Latex scripts into a Word doc or vice versa. There also exist a number of collaborative writing tools such as Authorea and OverLeaf. Easy options for writing with several co-authors are Google Docs or Word Online.

3. STEP: REVISE THE CO-WRITTEN SCIENTIFIC PAPER

Once the project owner has received all parts from the different collaborators and compiled the paper into one draft, it’s a good idea to meet up with the members of your scientific collaboration again. Here are the decisions you need to make:

• Who will edit the paper for coherence?
• How will you incorporate revisions from co-authors?
• How will you deal with conflicting opinions?

Let’s go over each point.

WHO WILL EDIT THE PAPER FOR COHERENCE?

Should the project owner/first/last author or another collaborator be responsible for editing the draft so that it is concise and coherent? Or are you going to hire an external editor to do this?

HOW WILL YOU INCORPORATE REVISIONS FROM CO-AUTHORS?

In what order should the co-authors read and comment on the draft? How should the comments, changes and edits be submitted to the project owner? A common option is to ask every co-author to switch on track-changes if you work in Word. It’s easy to see the changes an author has made and whether the owner wants to accept or reject them. Some prefer to get a list of the suggested changes from their co-authors so they can implement the edits themselves.

HOW WILL YOU DEAL WITH CONFLICTING OPINIONS?

The project owner should take all suggestions from members of your research collaboration into account. Instead of ignoring suggestions that the project owner doesn’t agree with, it’s better to seek discussion with the co-author. If you can’t come to an agreement, the topic should be opened up to all members of the scientific collaboration.

COLLABORATIVE WRITING STRATEGIES

Finally, a few additional strategies that will help you manage the collaborative writing process efficiently.

TAKE MEETING NOTES

When you meet with your research collaboration partners and co-authors – be it in person or virtually – have someone take minutes. The project owner should update the timeline, responsibilities etc based on the minutes.

USE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

There is project management software out there, which you might want to check out. If you have never worked with programs like this, I recommend starting to look into Trello or Notion, which don’t require much project management experience and are fairly easy to set up.

However, setting up a project management systems can be a time-consuming undertaking, and it might just overcomplicate things for your collaborative writing. So, consider wisely if this would be a good investment for your research collaboration.

AGREE ON THE FINAL DRAFT

Every co-author should read the final draft before the paper is submitted. The project owner should make clear to all co-authors that this isn’t the time for big structural changes or even copy-editing. Only proof-reading (correcting typos, spelling, grammar) is permitted in this final read-through.

COLLABORATIVE WRITING DONE RIGHT — CASE STUDIES

Making collaborative writing more efficient is our jam. Inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy, we teach researchers a whole system to develop, write and finalise a scientific paper with their co-authors time-efficiently. I want you to meet two researchers who were able to transform their collaborative writing process.

COLLABORATIVE WRITING CASE STUDY OLUWATOYOSI A. ONWUEMENE, M.D.

First, meet Oluwatoyosi A. Onwuemene, MD, who is Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in the US. Here is what she said after implementing the collaborative writing strategies we teach inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy:

“I am an excellent writer and have been writing and submitting manuscripts for a while.”

”However, the Researchers’ Writing Academy significantly improved my process of engaging with and receiving feedback from my co-authors. ”

“The particular breakthrough I received in the Researchers’ Writing Academy was with regard to the necessary work prior to writing, especially with regard to creating an outline prior to committing to a full manuscript.”

“It sounds like a simple intervention; but it really changed the way I interact with my co-authors. It has cut down significantly on major edits of fully written manuscripts and allows me to fully engage co-authors early on in the manuscript-writing process. Now there is less confusion and fewer surprises during the writing process! ”

COLLABORATIVE WRITING CASE STUDY JIA NG, MD

Next, please meet Jia Ng, MD, who is an Assistant Professor at the Zucker School of Medicine in the US. Here’s what she says:

“I used to approach academic writing as something tedious that I needed to do.

Since being a member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy, I can write a draft in four weeks .”

COLLABORATIVE WRITING — CONCLUSION

There you have it: A checklist for each stage of the collaborative writing process including some essential collaborative writing strategies and case studies illustrating how collaborative writing can feel when done right. Hopefully, this helps to make collaborative writing a more joyful experience for everyone on your research collaboration!

If you want to learn the complete system to write collaborative papers time-efficiently, including how to develop your story, how to structure each section of your research paper and how to stay accountable, check out our free writing class. 👇

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Collaborative writing: Strategies and activities for writing productively together

Lorelei lingard.

Department of Medicine, Centre for Education Research & Innovation, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON Canada

In the Writer’s Craft section, we offer simple tips to improve your writing in one of three areas: Energy, Clarity and Persuasiveness. Each entry focuses on a key writing feature or strategy, illustrates how it commonly goes wrong, teaches the grammatical underpinnings necessary to understand it and offers suggestions to wield it effectively. We encourage readers to share comments on or suggestions for this section on Twitter, using the hashtag: #how’syourwriting?

Scientific writing is rarely a solo act. It’s not that the researcher doesn’t sit the same lonely vigil as the novelist, hunched over her laptop at the kitchen table in a winter dawn, hoping for inspiration. Sure she does. But, unlike the novelist, the research writer is rarely the sole architect of the text she’s creating. She is sitting alone at that table, but she is not writing alone. She writes on behalf of a team of collaborators, although she might wonder with the faintest tinge of resentment whether they are still in their warm beds as she sits in the pale morning light. Her sense of isolation is temporary though. It will dissipate at the precise moment when five email messages ping into her inbox, each one offering its unique feedback and edits on her circulated draft.

Writing collaboratively can be the best of times and the worst of times. At best, it is richly rewarding. Collaborators brainstorm the vision of the piece together; they enhance the story by thoughtfully questioning one another’s ideas; they craft the text iteratively, weaving a subtle tapestry of argument. At worst, it is deeply frustrating. Collaborators exchange ideas that don’t cohere; they compete to pull the story in pet directions that both complicate and dilute it; they manufacture a stitched-together, Frankenstein of a text. Leading a collaborative writing effort, therefore, is a tricky business. And while many resources exist to help structure and support collaborative research [ 1 , 2 ], most pay little attention to the activity of collaborative writing, beyond issues of authorship candidacy.

Upcoming Writer’s Craft instalments will help you cultivate productive, satisfying writing relationships within your research team. In this piece, we make explicit the strategies and activities involved when a group of researchers writes together, so that your research team can identify them and discuss how they will unfold in a particular project.

Strategies for collaborative writing

Collaborative writing is “an iterative and social process that involves a team focused on a common objective that negotiates, coordinates, and communicates during the creation of a common document” [ 3 ]. Collaborative writing can follow many different strategies [ 4 ], but five are most common [ 2 ]. These are one-for-all writing, each-in-sequence writing, all-in-parallel writing, all-in-reaction writing and multi-mode writing. Each offers a different approach to coordinating the work of writing in a group, and each is suited to different collaborative contexts.

“One-for-all writing” occurs when one person writes on behalf of the team. This strategy is appropriate when the writing task is simple and the stakes are low. For instance, many collaborative teams have a single author write an analytical memo describing the group’s discussion at a research meeting. One-for-all writing offers stylistic consistency and efficiency, but can limit consensus building or revision unless these are explicitly built into document cycles. Therefore, it is best used by groups with a shared understanding of the writing task. Alternately, it can serve as an efficient, low-stakes way of producing a first rough draft that the team understands will undergo multiple iterations using a range of other writing strategies. Writing a first draft is, of course, never ‘simple’, but when the agreed goal is ‘to get something on the page for us to work on together’, one-for-all writing can work well.

“Each-in-sequence” writing occurs when one person starts the writing, completes their task and passes it on to the next person to complete theirs. This strategy is useful for groups working asynchronously who cannot meet often and document-sharing platforms play a central role in its successful realization [ 5 ]. Many teams will use it in the early stages of drafting a grant application, for instance, because it allows for straightforward coordination of distributed work. The sequence may be purposeful: for example, the lead author will draft the introduction, then the research assistant will draft the methods, then a third team member will draft the results, at which point the piece will return to the lead author to draft the discussion. In practice, however, the sequence is often more random: writers get to their sections when they can. Each-in-sequence writing introduces a number of challenges, including minimal social interaction, one-person bottlenecks, lack of coherence because differing ideas are not reconciled or writers invalidate one another’s work, and haphazard version control. Together, these can result in poor overall coherence of the document. Teams can address these challenges by early meetings to clearly articulate the writing tasks and discuss areas of potential overlap or conflict. Also critical is agreement on the paper’s main story and how it will thread through all sections, as well as a shared approach to writing style basics such as first or third person narration, and active or passive voice construction. Coherence is also improved by assigning a lead writer who oversees the sequence and takes responsibility for integration. However, this writer must have the authority to successfully fulfill this role.

“All-in-parallel” writing involves dividing the writing work into discrete units and writers working simultaneously rather than in sequence. This strategy works well in situations where the writing task is easily divided and individual sections are not mutually dependent. Because it tends to offer more process efficiency and writer autonomy than each-in-sequence writing, all-in-parallel writing can produce rapid, high volume output. The strategy is most effective when divisions of labour are not arbitrary but planned according to each writer’s core expertise. For instance, the methodologist on a research team might write the first draft of the methods section, while a team member versed in the substantive domain of the work writes the literature review. The main challenge of all-in-parallel writing is that writers are blind to each other’s work while writing, which can produce redundant or contradictory material. To mitigate this, parallel writing requires careful pre-planning, including an outline of how the parts relate to one another, a shared vision of the audience and purpose of the document, and process to reconcile stylistic differences.

When researchers create a document together in real time, adjusting to each other’s changes and additions without explicit preplanning and coordination, they are using the strategy of “all-in-reaction” writing. Imagine, for example, that you write the first draft of a paper’s Problem/Gap/Hook and send it to your co-authors simultaneously for review and response. They may make edits simultaneously, their edits may contradict or concur with you or with one another, and they may be carefully considered or spontaneous and impulsive. An advantage of the all-in-reaction collaborative writing strategy is that it can support consensus through fluid and creative expression of all writers. It can also provoke debates and enable new, unexpected meanings to emerge. Its main disadvantages include limited coordination, the potential for chaotic development of the piece, and difficulties with version control due to simultaneity of writing. And, for more novice or less powerful writers on the team, it can produce a turbulent, threatening experience. Therefore, all-in-reaction writing works best in small, non-hierarchical groups where all members feel safe to express their opinions. When these conditions are met, it can be a powerful strategy for interdisciplinary groups to create new meanings beyond the borders of conventional disciplinary thinking.

Many research teams use a combination of these strategies over the course of a writing project, called “multi-mode writing”. For instance, a graduate student may produce the first draft of their research manuscript (one-for-all), which is then reviewed sequentially by team members, either as their calendars allow (each-in-random sequence) or in a preplanned order (each-in-purposeful-sequence). Revisions are then produced by the graduate student (one-for-all), and each team member reviews closely one section of the revision according to their expertise (all-in-parallel). The abstract may be written (often hours before the conference submission deadline) on Google Docs or by flurry of emails, with all team members simultaneously helping to whittle the word count and prioritize the key messages (all-in-reaction). Ensuring that all writers are capable users of the technologies supporting the collaborative process is critical.

These five strategies offer a framework for thinking critically about your own collaborative writing practices. Ask yourself these questions:

• What strategies does our team employ?
• Are our strategies purposeful, selected according to the nature of the team and the needs of the project, or are they accidental?
• Do we explicitly discuss how we will coordinate the work, or do we tacitly enact the same strategy each time?
• Are we using each strategy in ways that maximize its affordances and minimize its challenges?
• Are we using technology appropriately to support our collaborative activities?

Being purposeful and explicit about your collaborative writing strategy can help your team to maximize its unique affordances and minimize its challenges.

Activities of collaborative writing

Collaborative writing involves more than just writing . Writing researchers have identified seven core activities: brainstorming, conceptualizing, outlining, drafting, reviewing, revising and editing [ 2 ].

In brainstorming, the writing group creates a list of potential ideas for the paper. Through conversation and text, they consider how to best represent the findings, what they might say about those findings in relation to the research question, what storylines would make for a compelling Discussion [ 6 ], and what conversations the piece might join in the literature. Brainstorming may start while data collection and analysis are still underway, particularly in qualitative research using theoretical sampling methods.

The activity of conceptualizing involves coalescing and prioritizing brainstorming ideas to articulate the central story of the paper. Some ideas will be set aside as insufficiently mature or irrelevant to the study’s main purpose; others will be pursued in ongoing analyses and reading of related theoretical and empirical literatures. When a study will yield more than one story, the process of conceptualizing must also consider the order and audiences of multiple manuscripts: which story should be told first? To whom?

Once the story is conceptualized, outlining is the process of detailing how it will unfold throughout the sections of the research manuscript genre. What needs to go in the introduction and what would be an unnecessary detour? What degree of detail should the methods include? Which results will be included and in what order? How will the discussion develop the ideas from the introduction? Outlining is an activity that can lend itself more readily to solo than to collaborative work. However, even if one writer takes the lead on outlining, the process should be visible to other members of the group. Talking through the outline in rough as a team, and then reviewing the outline created by the lead author, is one way to maximize both efficiency and input at this stage of the writing process.

In drafting, the outlined sections are flushed out into full sentences, paragraphs and arguments. Create a realistic schedule for this activity; an outline can seem like it lays the whole paper out, but the devil is in the details. Will the literature review be organized chronologically or by points of view in the current scholarly conversation? How much theoretical framing should appear in the introduction? How elaborate should the methods be, and what is the appropriate balance of description and justification? How will main results be illustrated, and which data should appear in tables, figures or quoted excerpts? How will the storyline develop in the discussion, beyond summary of results and limitations? In fact, when you acknowledge the complexity of the writing that goes into even a rough first draft, it probably makes more sense to draft sections in blocks. Consider pairing methods and results, and introduction and discussion, for instance, as these represent, respectively, the study and the story [ 7 ].

Reviewing, revising and editing usually occur in cycles. In reviewing, all members read draft material and provide feedback orally, by email, or in the text itself as track changes or comment boxes. Ideally, reviewing is a directed activity, in which members of the group are asked to focus on particular issues at specific points in the writing process. Revising involves the consideration, prioritization and integration of feedback from group members into the draft. Cycles of reviewing and revising will take place until the text is substantively complete, logically coherent, and rhetorically effective. Editing involves micro-level revisions for style, grammar and flow, which may take place either as individual sections mature or when the entire document is judged complete. Editing at this level may be an activity best undertaken by one writer on the team, in order that the paper does not read as though it was written by several individuals.

These collaborative writing activities are dynamic and iterative. Sometimes the storyline needs revisiting after a particularly substantive round of reviewing. Reviewing may shift into revising. Or editing may take place on some completed sections while other sections are still being reviewed. Because of this, successful collaboration requires cultivating a shared understanding of which activity is being undertaken at any given time. Are you finished brainstorming, you’ve agreed on a conceptualization and you’re now ready to outline the paper? If one writer thinks so, but another is still in brainstorming mode, this can impede progress. Are some writers providing review feedback at the level of micro-editing, while others are grappling with the conceptualization of the story as it is emerging in the draft? Is reviewing of a one-for-all draft turning into all-in-reaction revising? Having a language to talk about the different activities involved in collaborative writing can help to identify and resolve such disparate orientations to the work. And keep in mind that these activities are not ‘neutral’; they occur in the context of interpersonal dynamics on a research team. Collaborators mark, claim, defend and redraw intellectual territory as they work through the various activities associated with the writing [ 8 ]. Being attentive to enactment of territoriality throughout the writing process can help you focus on, rather than deflect, points of tension. Because within these may reside the team’s best opportunities to produce incisive, boundary-pushing thinking.

Depending on the writing project, these seven activities will receive variable emphasis and attention. Some results clearly dictate the storyline, making brainstorming less necessary. Some conceptualizations are sufficiently detailed that outlining can be more perfunctory. Some writers edit as they go, making the editing process less extensive at the end. The value of identifying these activities is to reflect on your own processes: does your writing team tend to skip some of these steps, such as outlining, and to what effect? Do some members of your writing team engage in some activities, such as reviewing, but not in others? Not every writer on a team will engage centrally in every activity. But some degree of participation in all of these writing activities yields more satisfying and efficient collaboration. For instance, team members not involved in the brainstorming and conceptualizing activities may inappropriately reintroduce through their reviewing and revising of drafts a storyline that the team had agreed to reserve for another paper. When such tensions in the writing emerge purposefully among collaborators engaged in all activities, they represent important moments for reviewing earlier decisions and perhaps reconceptualizing the piece. However, when they emerge incidentally because some collaborators are unaware of earlier activities, they can be a source of frustration and inefficiency.

For your research collaboration to culminate in successful collaborative writing, you need to be able to break “writing” into its constituent activities and agree on strategies to coordinate them. This Writer’s Craft instalment offers a vocabulary to support you in this work.

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7 Steps to Finding the Right Research Collaborator

Published on 23 Nov 2022

Conferences are a great way to meet potential collaborators.

You’ve likely heard that “two heads are better than one.” This phrase rings true in a variety of settings, but especially in the context of scientific research.

It’s been proven repeatedly that cooperation is beneficial to research initiatives . Scientific collaboration has many advantages: 

• It brings together a unique mixture of talents, cultures, and knowledge. This, in turn, can lead to more creative and impactful outcomes from research.
• It’s an effective way for individuals in the scientific community to build and maintain their careers (particularly for young researchers looking to grow their networks).
• It helps bridge the gap between varied fields (or geographic regions) of research.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the extraordinary benefits of research collaboration were clearly demonstrated. As researchers worked together against a common enemy in the virus, those efforts led to accelerated solutions at a rate that is rarely seen in the scientific world. 

Collaboration vs. Competition in the Research Community

Unfortunately, some barriers still exist to widespread research collaboration. The paradox between cooperation and competition in the scientific world means that researchers work in a tricky environment — one where their biggest competitors in publishing research are also their best potential collaborators for that same research.

In spite of these barriers, it’s vital that researchers don’t let the pressure to publish first get in the way of what’s really important: the actual progress of science.

How to Find a Great Research Collaborator

While we wish it was as easy as plugging some data into an automated algorithm that pairs you with the perfect person, the technology isn’t quite up to the task yet.

Research collaboration software can be a good place to start, but it still does a pretty bad job at matching researchers from a human interaction perspective — a factor that can make or break collaboration initiatives.

So, until technology improves, you’ll have to do a bit of extra work to find collaborators that complement you on both a professional and personal level. Here are seven steps to help you get started…

1.  Determine Your Purpose for Collaborating

An important first step is to determine your purpose for collaborating.

Before you start reaching out, think about your goals for collaboration. Are you looking to build connections for career advancement? Do you want to gain extra awareness for your research? Do you need someone to help collect data or do field work? Or, are you trying to fill some other skill gap that’s required for your research?

Whatever the goal, thinking about how the collaboration will meet your needs will help you be strategic about who you contact and how they fit into your next steps.

2.  Assess Your Skills & Your Gaps

Many researchers make the mistake of focusing only on what they need without defining what they can bring to the table. So, before you reach out to anyone, think about what you have to offer.

Your potential collaborators will have their own challenges. What can you provide that will help them? You’ll likely have to adjust your strategy for each individual you reach out to. Don’t shy away from directly asking them what their struggles are. It will help you suggest ways that you can work together for mutual benefit.

On a similar note, evaluate any skill gaps you may have (and be clear about how you think the other person’s skills could complement your own). Acknowledging your shortcomings can be uncomfortable, but it will lead to more effective collaborations in the long run. 

It can also be helpful to work with people who do things differently from you or view the world from another perspective. Having diverse personalities in a collaboration can produce more interesting results (i.e. pairing a structured, hyper-organized person with a more free-spirited, big-picture thinker during a brainstorm session).

3.  Reach Out to Your Current Network

Once you’ve got a clear picture of what you’re looking for and what you can bring to the table, the next step is to start reaching out. The “low-hanging fruit” (aka. your current network) is always the best place to start.

Send messages or post on social media, update your LinkedIn profile, talk to old professors/supervisors, reach out to past and current colleagues, and get in touch with any other professional or personal connections that may be of help. Ask your network to introduce you to potential collaborators if they know of anyone who would be a good fit. 

Finally, think about the best methods to contact people. This will depend on what ways you feel most comfortable communicating as well as the preferences/culture of each individual you contact. Scanning a person’s social media can be a great way to get an idea of how they communicate (and what they might be like to work with) before you reach out.

4.  Take Steps to Grow Your Network & Presence

By reaching out to your current network, you’ll likely have already gained a few new contacts via personal introductions. Here are a few other ways to help grow your network:

• Practice introducing yourself - Prepare a few lines that explain who you are, your area of experience, and any of your major achievements. This can be used in writing (like emails and LinkedIn) or when speaking to new connections (at conferences and networking events ).
• Search online collaboration platforms - If you’re looking for fresh faces outside of your network, take a peek at collaboration platforms like Collaboratory to help you build a list of potential research collaborators. Getting your profile up on sites like this has the added benefit of increasing the chances that someone else reaches out to you first.
• Hit the research conference circuit - Conferences are great networking opportunities. Attending sessions in your area of interest is a built-in, conversation starter to get you talking with other people in your field. Be sure to check out our tips to prepare for an academic conference before you go.
• Write something and publish it - Whether it’s a blog post or a journal article, publishing something online helps increase your visibility to other researchers who are doing similar work. Journal articles can help potential collaborators in the same field find you. While “lessons-learned” or opinion-based blog articles have the benefit of easy shareability and a potentially wider reach.
• Get involved in a professional organization - Almost every field of science has a professional organization that works to advance the research and careers of those working in it. So, find the organization(s) that suit you best and take full advantage of what they have to offer (i.e. networking events, collaboration databases, research grants, etc…).

5.  Don’t be Afraid to Make the First Move

If you’ve found someone who you think could be a good collaborator, get the conversation started. Do some research on the person first to help personalize your approach (and to figure out the best way to contact them).

Generally, email is considered to be the most professional method of communication. So, if you’re not speaking in-person already, start the conversation there. 

Keep your first email formal. Highlight what you know about their work, introduce yourself, and be clear about what you are offering. Once they’ve responded, you can plan next steps — whether that’s a video call or a meetup at an event you’re both attending.

If they don’t respond right away, don’t be disheartened. Send a follow-up after one or two weeks. Acknowledge that you realize they are likely busy and ask them if there would be a better time to contact them about a potential research collaboration.

6.  Test the Waters & Set Expectations

When you’re in the early stages of a collaboration conversation, start small. Get together with the person or group. Throw some ideas around and see how you interact. Even if your research focus fits perfectly, the collaboration won’t succeed if you don’t work well together.

As the conversation continues, set expectations before any official collaboration begins. This includes outlining things like percentages of involvement, important deadlines, expected response times, conflict management strategies, and how each person will be credited. 

Open and honest communication, along with opportunities for discussion and disagreement, are key factors in successful research collaboration.

7.  Lay the Foundation for Future Research Collaboration

If the fit is right and you start collaborating with someone, it’s never too early to start thinking about what comes next. Whether you continue collaboration with the same person on future projects, or gain an introduction to other potential research collaborators, keep your eyes open for opportunities.

More Tools to Help You Find Research Collaborators…

In addition to the steps we’ve outlined, you can use these additional resources to help you find the right research collaborator:

Watch this webinar by Enago and AcademicLabs . It includes a discussion on research collaboration as well as some suggested tools.

Browse the Web of Science to search authors who are writing (and citing) the hottest papers on your topic. They even provide a handy guide on how to use the Web of Science for finding potential research collaborators.

Visit research networking forums like ResearchGate and Google Scholar . They’re great places to demonstrate your expertise and evaluate the experience of others.

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Developing effective research collaborations: Strategies for building successful partnerships

Research collaborations have become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more researchers recognizing the benefits of working together to achieve common research goals. Collaborative research offers a range of advantages, including increased funding opportunities, access to specialized expertise, and the potential for greater impact and reach of research outcomes. However, building successful partnerships requires careful planning and execution, as well as a willingness to overcome the challenges that can arise when working with others. In this article, we will explore the strategies for developing effective research collaborations and building successful partnerships.

Identify shared research interests and goals:

The first step in building a successful research collaboration is to identify shared research interests and goals. This requires careful consideration of the research areas that are of interest to all parties involved, as well as an understanding of the specific research questions that each party seeks to answer. This may involve conducting a thorough literature review to identify knowledge gaps or areas where additional research is needed. Once shared research interests and goals have been identified, a clear research plan can be developed that outlines the objectives, research methods, and expected outcomes of the collaboration.

Establish clear roles and responsibilities:

In order to avoid confusion and ensure that everyone involved in the research collaboration is working towards the same objectives, it is important to establish clear roles and responsibilities from the outset. This means clearly defining the tasks and responsibilities of each member of the research team, as well as outlining the timelines and milestones for the project. This can help to avoid duplication of effort, reduce the risk of misunderstandings, and ensure that everyone is aware of their contribution to the collaboration.

Foster open communication and collaboration:

Effective research collaborations require open communication and collaboration between all parties involved. This means creating a supportive and inclusive research environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives, and where constructive feedback is encouraged. Regular meetings and check-ins can help to ensure that everyone is on track, and that any issues or concerns are addressed in a timely manner. Collaborative research platforms, such as shared online spaces or project management software, can also help to facilitate communication and collaboration among team members.

Build trust and mutual respect:

Building trust and mutual respect is essential for developing effective research collaborations. This means creating a culture of transparency and honesty, where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns without fear of judgment or reprisal. It also means respecting the expertise and opinions of other team members, and being willing to compromise and find common ground when differences arise. By building trust and mutual respect, research collaborations can create a strong foundation for success and ensure that all members feel valued and supported.

Manage conflicts and challenges:

Despite the best planning and execution, conflicts and challenges can arise when working on collaborative research projects. These may include differences in research approaches or methodologies, competing priorities or interests, or misunderstandings about roles or responsibilities. Effective conflict management is essential for maintaining the momentum of the collaboration and ensuring that everyone remains focused on achieving the shared research goals. This may involve implementing clear conflict resolution protocols, establishing open lines of communication for addressing concerns, or seeking external mediation when necessary.

Research collaborations offer a range of benefits, from increased funding opportunities to access to specialized expertise and resources. However, building successful partnerships requires careful planning and execution, as well as a willingness to overcome the challenges that can arise when working with others. By following the strategies outlined in this article, researchers can develop effective research collaborations that are based on shared research interests and goals, clear roles and responsibilities, open communication and collaboration, trust and mutual respect, and effective conflict management. By doing so, they can increase the impact and reach of their research outcomes, and make meaningful contributions to their respective fields.

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Which authors are frequently writing papers in your field?

To find out who the established authors are in your field, you can search the Web of Science Core Collection for your topic of interest and use the Analyze Results tool.

You'll find the Analyze Results tool when you're looking at any result set in Web of Science, including the Marked List.

When you run Analyze Results, you can choose to show the top 10, 25, 50, etc. authors for your result set.

This will provide you with insight into who are the most prolific authors writing on your topic.

To view an author's papers, including their institutional affiliation, mark the box for the author name and click the Refine Results by Selected button.

To identify an author's institutional affiliation, open the full record for any paper published after 2007* and go to the Author Information section of the record.

* All authors and their affiliations are captured for every publication in Web of Science Core Collection . Starting in 2008, each author is also linked to his/her affiliation(s).

Who are the authors of Hot and Highly Cited papers on your topic?

If your institution subscribes to Essential Science Indicators , you can view the Highly Cited and/or Hot Papers in any result set in the Web of Science Core Collection .

Search the Web of Science Core Collection for your topic and use the Hot and Highly Cited quick filter options in the refine panel on the left. 

For a large set of Highly Cited and/or Hot Papers, you can use the Analyze Results tool described earlier to see which authors are the most prolific within this group of papers, or, for a smaller set of papers, you can open up each individual record to see the authors and their affiliations.

The authors who cite your work could be your partners in future collaborations.

Go to the citing articles of a single paper

From the full record view of any paper you've authored in the Web of Science , you can click on the Times Cited count to view the citing articles. If there are a lot of citing articles, you might want to use the Analyze Results tool described earlier to see if any authors have cited you in more than one paper.

Go to the citing articles of a group of papers

For a group of papers that you've authored, you can view the citing articles for the whole group by using the Citation Report feature.

1. Search Web of Science by your name, Web of Science ResearcherID or ORCID unique identifier.  Refine results as needed to obtain your specific publications.

2. You'll find the Citation Report tool available for any result set of 10,000 or fewer records.

3. Run Citation Report on all of your publications. This report will show you the total number of citing articles for all of your publications: you'll see a Citing Articles count and a Citing Articles without self-citations count, which is the number of citing articles minus any articles that are appearing in the set of publications you are examining (in other words, for the scenario described here, this count would show you only citing articles that you have not authored).

4. Click on the citing article count to go to the citing articles. From the Citing Articles page, you can use the Analyze Results tool to see the subject categories of the citing articles, who is citing you, etc.

Who are the authors in your field with the most overall citation impact?

Until now we've found collaborators by identifying the most prolific authors in your field, the authors of the most cited papers in your field, and the authors of papers that cite your work.

For a more nuanced view of an author's citation impact within your field, you can use InCites Benchmarking & Analytics .

Note: InCites Benchmarking & Analytics requires a sign-in. If you have already set up a Web of Science sign-in as described on the First Steps page of this guide , then you can use the same credentials to sign into InCites. Otherwise, use the Register an email address option below the Sign in button when you are in InCites.

1. We begin in Web of Science Core Collection. Do a search for your topic of interest. If your search results are 50,000 records or fewer, you can export those publications to InCites for an author analysis. ( Note: if you have more than 50,000 records try the options in the Refine panel, or modify your search, to whittle your results to under 50,000 ).

2. Use the Save to InCites option. You will be prompted to sign into InCites and give your custom dataset a name.

3. In InCites go to the Researchers entity from the Analyze menu.

4. Make sure to change your dataset from the InCites dataset to the custom dataset you just created from Web of Science Core Collection.

5. Set a minimum Web of Science document threshold so that you're not looking at authors who have written just a few papers on your topic.

6. Sort the table by Web of Science Documents to get a sense of who are the most prolific authors in your topic. Use Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) to get a sense of each author's impact within your topic. CNCI is an indicator of impact normalized for subject focus, age, and document type. A CNCI value of one represents performance at par with world average, values above one are considered above average, and values below one are considered below average. A CNCI value of two is considered twice the world average.

7. Click on the Web of Science Document count for an author to view the list of documents by that author. The document list also provides article level metrics. Click on the title of any document in the list to go to the full record page for that item in Web of Science Core Collection.

Custom Datasets

Watch the video on saving custom datasets from Web of Science Core Collection to InCites.

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Five tips to make the most of your academic collaborations

August 31, 2018

Research collaborations offer solutions to many unanswered questions in academia.

Research collaborations offer solutions to many unanswered questions in academia. Other than furthering science, collaborations are highly desirable for researchers in order for them to develop a healthy and productive collaborative network, share new research ideas and develop a diverse set of skills, all resulting in an increase in publication output. Yet, given the multiple parties, goals and expectations, collaborative projects are more susceptible to failure when compared to individual undertakings.

Getting the basics right

To help prevent disappointment and increase the efficiency of such partnerships, Researcher Academy invited Dr. Aijaz Shaikh, a marketing specialist and an all-around collaboration expert, to discuss  the key to successful academic collaborations   opens in new tab/window  in a live webinar. In a step-by-step manner, he explained the five basic components of successful research collaboration:

Diligently follow the schedule : As fruitful as collaborations can be, their effectiveness depends on formalizing a firm and effective schedule that works for all parties. Once established, it is vital to follow this schedule implicitly to ensure efficient working on all accounts.

Tip : Create (and use!) a shared calendar and to-do lists. This way, not only will you be able to able to manage your tasks whilst keeping your partner(s) aware of your progress and timeline, it will also keep your research partner(s) on track.

Agree the division of responsibilities : One of the main reasons for failed collaborations is misaligned expectations. To avoid this, tackle the issue early in the overall process. It might help to formalize responsibilities through a written record of who is doing what.

Tip : After discussing the expectations and responsibilities informally, write them down like a memorandum of understanding to make sure that all parties are clear on what is expected of them.

Demonstrate a responsible attitude : The next step to establishing responsibilities is to follow up on your own part. Do this by making sure that you are responsive, proactive and take care of your tasks. In doing so, you contribute to an effective collaborative relationship and increase your publication chances.

Tip : Have regular catch-ups. Since in-person meetings are too time consuming and expensive, use online tools like Skype to connect virtually. Or why not create a private Mendeley group   opens in new tab/window ?

Agree on the deliverables : Just like a clear division of responsibilities, the project deliverables should also be clarified and confirmed early on. Achieving this entails establishing comprehensive details on when these expectations are to be met and how they contribute to the overarching project.

Tip : As well as a shared calendar, consider using collaboration-enhancing web tools like Slack   opens in new tab/window and Trello   opens in new tab/window to enhance communication and sharing of timelines, statuses and output.

Keep it a formal relationship : While having a friendly rapport with your collaborators is to be encouraged, migrating into an informal relationship can be counterproductive towards the achievement of your research goals. Collaborations that lack a formal work setup can impact the schedule, responsibilities and expected deliverables. Tip : Before every meeting (virtual or in-person), send an agenda in advance and ask the other parties if they want to change/add anything. Don’t merge work and social meetings with your partners.

The final tip is that patience goes a long way in overcoming the hurdles that will inevitably affect your project. Especially when you are working as part of a (potentially) large team, spread out all over the globe, it’s easy to become frustrated and disillusioned. Combat this with an open mind and a patient approach to things. (NB this is good advice for much of life, of course!)

The tips presented here are just a short preview of a truly enlightening 60 minutes with collaboration expert Aijaz Shaikh. You can watch the full webinar recording, entirely free, at the  Elsevier Researcher Academy.   opens in new tab/window

Final tip of the day : You can add questions to the  Researcher Academy Mendeley   opens in new tab/window  group that you feel were not answered in the webinar and we will endeavour to find expert answers for you.

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Ten rules for successful research collaboration

Research professor, Southern Cross University

Associate Professor, Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University

Disclosure statement

Robyn Keast received program funding from Department of Education and Training - Collaborative Research Networks Section.

Michael B. Charles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Southern Cross University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

The federal government announced last year that it wants to see more collaboration between academia and industry. The government believes this will help “find solutions to real world problems and create jobs and growth”.

But collaboration is not easy to achieve or sustain. Between 50% and 75% of all interorganisational collaborations fail. And failure is expensive.

So how do you know when it’s appropriate to collaborate and how to make the relationship work?

Here, according to research , are ten rules you should follow:

1. Make sure you actually need to collaborate . Don’t be lured into collaboration just because it’s what everyone else seems to be doing. It’s not a way of getting what you want done more easily or cheaply – it can often be the opposite. So think whether your goal could be achieved another way – ie, by building in-house expertise, hiring new staff with the skills you need, or by contracting another party, such as a consultant, to do the job.

2. Understand that collaboration is risky . Collaboration is not business as usual. It is risky and represents a different way of working. It’s not always well supported within the organisation and not all people have the skills or appetite for it. Take time to review the proposed collaboration and determine the costs/benefits: what might you lose and what are you willing to hand over? Is the time and effort likely to pay dividends?

3. Find the right partners . This might seem like a no-brainer, but so many collaborations are doomed from the start because of mismatched expectations and goals, or working with parties that don’t have the right skills and resources to make the project work. The right partners don’t necessarily have to be like you, but you need to be sure that the other parties respect your way of thinking. There’s no point in collaborating with partners who don’t bring additional expertise and resources to the table.

4. Leverage your existing relationships . Collaborations often work best when you work with people you know well and trust, and where time has been invested in building relational capital. But the project might require new ways of thinking, different skill-sets and different resources. So previous collaborators or partners might become the connectors who can match you with the right sort of partners, even if they’re not entirely a good fit for the intended collaboration.

5. Find common ground with the other parties . When you’ve got a fair idea of your ideal collaborators, negotiate your terms of agreement up front, particularly about how you will work together, how conflicts with be handled, who will do what, and what will be contributed. This doesn’t mean reaching for the rule book each time problems arise, but it is important for parties to fully understand everyone’s interests and responsibilities. Time spent setting the rules of the game can also reduce the costs of ongoing monitoring.

Making it work

6. Invest in relationships . Collaboration is based on relationships, not programs or organisations. It’s not simply a transactional arrangement. If you only want that, hire a consultant. For collaborations to work, you need to establish face-to-face relationships initially to build relational strength. Face-to-face meetings every so often between collaboration partners also help to ensure that things run smoothly. Simply put, time is a big part of the investment.

7. Identify and support champions and sponsors . Collaborative projects work best when there is a champion (usually from industry) who knows exactly how the research is going to benefit his/her organisation, industry or sector. If this person leaves the organisation, someone similar needs to be found. If not, the project will drift, the researchers will reduce their engagement, and the outcomes won’t be applied. This is the worst of all possible outcomes. By contrast, sponsors provide high-level endorsement for the project and help to secure legitimacy, funding and access to resources. Give sponsors good news stories to help them act as brokers for your work/projects.

8. Close down the ineffectual or toxic . Some collaborative projects end up carrying a partner or two, which puts considerable strain on everyone else – and can affect relationships that would otherwise be productive. Call out these behaviours, but give work-shy parties a chance to redeem themselves, or look for alternative ways of getting their input. If that doesn’t work, revise previous agreements, particularly when it comes to co-authorship, and don’t reward shirking behaviours.

9. Protect the fortress. Work hard to keep a successful collaboration going. Add parties as the need arises, but take care when doing so. New parties need to understand the culture of the collaboration and fit in with its values, norms and behaviours. Understand how your partners work, their strengths and weaknesses, appreciate their value-add and constantly find ways of keeping the magic alive.

10. Measure, monitor and communicate success. You need to establish a clear way to measure how you’re tracking against previously agreed objectives. Make sure you plan for some early wins and be sure you can verify when you’ve got there. Being able to measure and communicate success is essential to keeping a collaboration going and – more importantly – working out whether it’s on the right path, or needs work. You also need to be able to demonstrate clearly and unambiguously whether the project was a success, or whether it fell short in some areas.

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How to find collaborators for a research project(paper or a series of papers)?

Recently, I have read new papers and seen new different approaches and the very interesting physical effects in alternatives to general relativity, and I think I see a bit of ideas for future papers, but I don't have any expertise in these approaches, I have published papers only in general relativity(from physics point of view). At my university, no one is interested in these topics(general relativity or alternatives, only on numerical simulations of hot plasma in accretion disks around black holes). I have proposed some ideas to some friends and peers and although at first sight they seem to be very interested, after I send them the differential equations and papers to be studied everyone lost interest. The question would be how to find a collaborator interested in such a new approach that would lead to papers in good journals where I have published before?

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• 1 I guess you can find some at conferences. You can also try to see if you can contact some of the authors of the papers you have just found (maybe they will interested?). What about contacting faculty (in the same department as yours) but in different institutions/universities? –  The Guy Commented May 3, 2016 at 13:27
• 2 Start the research yourself first. If you propose something when you have already invested in the research yourself, it is easier to join the project. –  mmh Commented May 3, 2016 at 13:36
• I have edited with my current background, I am only a PhD student with a few publications, I am not a researcher in the field. –  Nikey Mike Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:53

3 Answers 3

The best place to begin to look for collaborators are researchers who are currently publishing in your topic/field of interest. I would recommend contacting the authors of journal articles you read and can contribute to the topic in a significant manner (enough to be published). Contact the researcher and suggest a collaboration, with what skills and expertise you bring to the table and your intended result of collaboration.

You can probably find colleagues easily. The challenge is interesting them in a collaboration with you.

The basic rule is that collaborations are successful when everyone benefits. In order to get collaborators, you need to make it clear that they will benefit by working with you on your idea. Benefit in academia usually takes the form of:

• Publication authorship
• Advancing the collaborator's pre-existing research interest

You have already mentioned one potential benefit of your work: high-impact publications. The key is communicating (and convincing) colleagues that they will benefit.

Here are some things that might help:

• Have a concrete proposal. While some open-ended early discussions might be useful, once you are ready to invite people to collaborate, invite them to something specific. Do you want to write a paper together that demonstrates XYZ? is a clear idea that colleagues can quickly evaluate to decide whether they are interested. On the other hand, Should we work together in area X? is far too open-ended. It is not clear whether it will lead to anything useful, and busy academics will be reluctant to invest a lot of time in discussions that might not lead anywhere.*
• Existing track record (publications, etc.)
• An introduction from someone known who can vouch for you.
• Networking and conversations that give people an insight into your knowledge.
• Offer to collaborate with others on their ideas. You ought to be the kind of colleague that you hope others will be for you. This means being willing to contribute to other projects. Offering to help others, besides being nice, also gives you a network and credibility for advancing your own ideas later. And in practice, advancing your own ideas often means compromising with someone else on a project that does some of what you both want.

* When I was trying to get collaborators on a grant application, I made the mistake of being too open-ended. It seemed like appropriate deference to others who were more experienced to approach them without a well-formed idea. However, these discussions didn't go anywhere. Eventually I realized that making a clear, concrete proposal was a service to everyone, as it gave them a much better idea of what I was talking about and whether it was worthwhile. "Let's apply for funding from this specific grant call, based on this short summary idea" got an immediate response from others. In the end, more experienced colleagues did shape the proposal quite a lot, but the specific proposal was a much better starting point for successful collaboration.

As a rule of thumb, if your approach even scared away internal ("friendly") collaborators, trying the same with external researchers that you do not have existing connections to seems like an exercise in futility.

This means that you first need to figure out what went wrong the first time you reached out to people at your university. Of course it is entirely impossible to debug your approach to find collaborators over the Internet and based on 5 lines of text, but I have a few educated guesses:

• Maybe you can work on your clarity of expression. Based on this and other questions you have put to Stack Exchange you seem to compress quite a lot of information and assumptions into a few meagre lines of very tense text. Without having actually seen a research proposal by you, I assume that it may come across rather convoluted.
• You seem inexperienced as a researcher. I say this because the only people I have ever heard talking about a string of papers in leading journals (with a specific IF, no less) even before any actual work has been conducted to be researchers with little experience in publishing at high-impact venues. While being inexperienced is no problem per se , people obviously tend to regard the research proposals of juniors with a little more scepticism.
• Have you considered what is "in it" for your collaborators? What qualities do you have that they don't (note that "a lot of time" can be a solid answer)? How will this project fit in with their current work and interests? How and what can they contribute? Always keep in mind that "I need skill A and you are an expert in A" is a terrible reasoning from the other side of the table.
• Are the roles in the collaboration clearly defined, and have you made those roles explicit? Are you looking for a mentor? People that help you with specific scientific / methodological aspects? Programmers or wet lab staff? Again, consider what is in it for them - if you are looking, for instance, for a mentor, why would this person supervise you, and not spend the same time on her or his own students?

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Finding a Perfect Research Collaborator: How to Build a Robust Research Network

Session Agenda

Research collaboration is the key to build and maintain a successful research career in today’s globalized world. Interdisciplinary, inter-organizational, and international collaborations facilitate research advancement by bringing together a unique mix of talents, resources, cultures, and scientific knowledge.

Research networks are also very effective in case of clinical research . However, most young researchers find it immensely challenging to establish good collaborations. Researchers need to find compatible collaborators, maintain the existing collaborations, and recognize opportunities to work with them. This webinar in collaboration with AcademicLabs, a specialist platform to facilitate easy research collaborations, aims to train researchers for initiating long-standing and fruitful collaborations.

Through this session, attendees will learn:

• Introduction to research collaboration and its different models
• How to identify the right research collaborators and initiate a collaboration?
• How should collaboration be arranged?
• How are researchers’ contributions managed in academic collaboration?
• Tools for collaboration
• Introduction to AcademicLabs and their role in research matchmaking

About AcademicLabs ( https://www.academiclabs.co/ )

AcademicLabs started in 2015 with one mission in mind: to accelerate research and innovation by bringing transparency to a highly fragmented R&D ecosystem. The AcademicLabs platform is a professional network where senior academic and R&D professionals build valuable connections and collaborate on successful projects. The platform is used by scientists in universities, R&D driven corporations and research institutions all over the world to identify research partners, by universities as a marketing channel to communicate their research capabilities to attract new partners, and by member networks, cluster organizations, conference organizers and academic societies to facilitate research collaboration.

Who should attend this session?

• Graduate students
• Early-stage researchers
• Established researchers

About the Speaker

About the speakers.

Despina Sanoudou, Ph.D., FACMG

Arne Smolders

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How to find international collaborators for your research, by sandy sparks, 09 january 2019 - 09:00.

Koushik Chowdavarapu used under licence and adapted from the original . 

Sandy Sparks, Learning and Development Consultant at the University of Warwick and Trainer for the British Council Researcher Connect programme, gives her best advice for finding and maintaining a collaboration. 

Start with the skills that you can offer

We often start with what we need. But we should think about what we can offer. What challenges do others have, and what can you provide that will help?

Instead of saying 'I have this great research', start with 'what's keeping you awake at night?' Ask your potential collaborator some questions about their challenges, and then suggest ways that you can work together.

Think about how the collaboration will meet your needs

Maybe you're an early-career researcher who wants to be a mid-career researcher. Maybe you want to go into research-led teaching, or policy. When you are clear about your needs, you can be strategic about who you collaborate with, and understand how this collaboration will help you with your next step.

Decide which medium you will use to find a collaborator

You can contact people by phone, through face-to-face networking opportunities or online. This depends on your and the potential collaborator's culture, and how you feel most comfortable communicating.

Keep an up-to-date LinkedIn profile that describes who you are and what you have to offer. There are also academic resources like Research Gate, Google Scholar, Academic Edu and Vitae.ac.uk. Those are useful for finding people who have similar research interests.

It's important to maintain the connections you already have. If you're an early-career researcher, you'll have a supervisor or project leader. Ask them to introduce you to people in similar research areas.

Learn how to introduce yourself

Be prepared with about three-to-six lines, which you can use in writing or when speaking. It should explain who you are, what your area of expertise is and what you've achieved. For example:

Hi, my name is, I currently work at X institution. Over the last X number of years I've done research in X, Y and Z. I'm currently working in X area. 

It's important to provide what I call 'hooks'.

I also have an interest in X and Y, and I'm currently looking for a funder/a collaborator/to be invited as a guest speaker....

You can also use this in your LinkedIn profile, or in your email signature.

Understand the culture of the person you're approaching

Do research to understand the country, department, institution, and individual's culture. One way to do this is to talk to people who are already working with that person, institution or department, or in the country.

When you've researched the person you are approaching and their area of interest, an email is a good way to make contact. Use a formal email style in the first instance, and say what you know about their work:

I understand you are researching X, Y and Z.

Then, introduce yourself. Be clear about what you are offering.

When you've established contact, decide on the next steps. Arrange a Skype call, or a 15-minute meeting at a conference that you're both attending.

Set expectations at the beginning of a collaboration

What are the deadlines and response times? What percentage of involvement will everyone have? How will you manage disputes? Will you be named, and will you be credited alphabetically?

Decide those things together, at the beginning. Be honest and explicit, and never assume.

Don't promise more than you can deliver, and be aware of the collaborator's needs, as well as your own.

Try to find a win-win situation

You might be an early- or mid-career researcher, but your more senior collaborator might require an international collaboration for their next project.

Look for ways to extend the collaboration after you have finished working together. Even if the collaboration wasn't as successful as you expected, you might have a colleague who would work better with your collaborator. Introduce them.

Develop a common language with your multidisciplinary team

If you're working in a multidisciplinary team, find out what different words mean. For example, some scientific disciplines use a star rating system, and some don't.

If your team is working remotely, find out whether Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp or another medium of communication will work for everyone. This will also be a good time to decide on a way of transferring information safely and legally.

Take control of your career development

Don't be discouraged if you don't get a response to an email. Try once more, acknowledge that the person is busy, and ask if there is a better time to contact your potential collaborator.

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The Research Whisperer

Just like the thesis whisperer – but with more money, how do you find researchers who want to collaborate.

Jenny has over fifteen years of experience of working in academic libraries, and is interested in scholarly communications, bibliometrics, copyright and many other things besides.

She blogs at A Librarian Abroad , and tweets at @JennyDelasalle . Her ORCID is  0000-0002-2241-4525 . 

We are pleased to publish her article describing research collaboration and Piirus, a not-for-profit service provided by the University of Warwick.

Contacts and collaboration are increasingly important to researchers. From the sparking of early ideas, to co-authorship which increases outputs and helps authors to reach new audiences, and on again to partnerships with organisations or industry which offer sources of funding and routes to impact: collaboration activities are increasingly seen as a part of research excellence.

The importance of collaboration

As the 2014 UK government report “ Growing the best and brightest: the drivers of research excellence ” (3 Mb PDF) identifies, features of successful collaborations include personal contacts and openness. Curt Rice, from the University of Tromsø points out that  co-authorship is sometimes seen as a sign of co-operativeness , and is on the increase. Curt refers to the so-called “Matthew effect”, where “those who have much, get more”, a phenomenon also identified in bibliometric studies  and that once more emphasise the importance of a researcher’s network of contacts.

How to make valuable connections

So, how do researchers forge the personal contacts that might lead to successful collaborations?

One way might be to meet researchers in person, perhaps at a conference, but this takes time and costs money. And, depending on your luck and persistence, you might not actually get to meet the people whose work is most relevant to your needs.

Another way would be to search for researchers online, and engage with researchers through social media. This also takes time, and does your online profile signal your current research interests? Most web content focuses on researchers’ past achievements, rather than where they would like to go next, so you wouldn’t be able to identify the best possible future collaborators from such web searches.

Sometimes, the contacts that you need to meet are not those with the same research interests as you, who might be at the same conferences as you or turn up in your usual research processes, but those with tangential relevance, from other disciplines or other cultures. It is even harder to meet suitable research partners when you have to cross disciplinary boundaries, too.

There is some excellent advice on collaborative science from Columbia University, which also outlines the trend towards more collaborative research and covers issues including potential problems and ways to enhance collaboration.

The digital difference

Social media tools like Twitter and blogs, as well as networking sites like LinkedIn and Academia.edu and Piirus can all play a role in helping researchers to get in touch with each other. Some researchers are highly engaged in social media already, as the plethora of social media hashtags for researchers, like #ECRchat and #FieldworkFriday testify. Other researchers may be interested in guides like the Digital Identity Health Check (114 kB PDF) from Piirus, which explains the benefits of improving your online profile as an academic and gives practical tips on how to do so.

With so many networking sites available, it’s hard to know which one to use for what (39 kB PDF, updated 16 April 2016). They each have their strengths, and many would advocate being everywhere!

The simplest way to do this is to maintain one, up-to-date profile, while getting all the others to point to that. You’ll find different communities on each site, and they will also be able to find you.

Room for a new approach

The problem is that just because you once wrote a paper about, say, dermatitis, that doesn’t mean that you’re currently interested in it, or that you’ll be researching it in years to come. Many of these sites are full of information about your previous research .

When you move into a new area, you need new connections, and if you’re looking for research collaborations then you want to find people who will also be working in that area in the future. What if they are also moving into that area for the first time?

This is especially important for researchers who want to get involved with cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects. How do you know which new areas of research your expertise might be relevant to, if looked at from a different discipline?

This is why the University of Warwick has created Piirus , as a free tool for matching researchers to each other with a view to collaboration. It’s all about crossing disciplines and finding connections on an international scale. And it’s very quick to use: you don’t have to enter all the same information all over again to use Piirus: you can create a profile in 5 mins on your smart phone, and find contacts straight away.

Piirus and real researchers!

Piirus surveyed over 340 researchers worldwide in 2014, and found that 79% of researchers think that international collaboration increases research productivity , among other benefits.

And there are stories from researchers who’ve used Piirus:

“In Greek, Piirus is something that connects two parts but continues to allow them to function independently. It is also the name of a river that took its name because it managed to penetrate a mountain and find a way through. So, for me, Piirus means ‘connect to overcome obstacles and go forwards’. Could there be any better reason to join?” – Sotirios Plakas, Athens, Greece.

While working in Karachi, Pakistan, educationist and researcher Maryam Moula Bakhsh realised that the best way to improve health sciences in developing countries is to enable people to become aware of advancements in healthcare and education beyond their own experiences and contexts. Piirus has become a vital part of Maryam’s campaign, enabling her to encourage students, graduates and healthcare professionals in Karachi to reach out around the world and broaden their horizons through contact with researchers in similar and related fields.

Marcos Garcia-Fuentes, a researcher of nanotechnology and advanced materials based at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, relies on international and multidisciplinary collaborations to help him with testing and translating his theoretical work into relevant and useful practices. Since joining Piirus, Marcos and his new connections have made real strides towards finding smarter and more effective ways to do research.

For Mohammad Ali Elminejad, an early career researcher in Bologna, Italy, finding and connecting with like-minded colleagues who shared his research interests was proving a challenge, with locked doors at every turn. After spending many days searching a number of online platforms without success, he discovered the Piirus website – which he now refers to as his ‘skeleton key’ – and a world of opportunities began to open up.

Once the connections are made

Finding researchers for collaboration is just one part of the journey, of course. Piirus’ blog offers tips for research collaboration and guides on themes like co-authorship . There are also lots of great stories about collaboration to be found here on the Research Whisperer blog.

Share this:

Reblogged this on Funding your research and commented: A great summary of the benefits of sites like Piirus. Collaboration remains key to the research landscape in the future and Piirus offers an easy way to make connections. Well worth signing up and seeing who is out there!

[…] Want to collaborate? Jenny Delassale describes how Piirus, a non-profit whose blog she edits, can help. […]

Editors note: In 2016, Piirus updated their domain to piirus.ac.uk . They were nice enough to tell us, and we updated the links today.

In doing so, we noticed that the link to their ‘Which network should I join’ PDF had broken. We updated the link to the new one. My apologies for any inconvenience.

[…] post draws from Jenny Delasalle’s The Research Whisperer post, “How do you find Researchers who want to collaborate.” Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported […]

Hello, my company has developed a tool for connecting researchers together, beyond just names and affiliation, it shows all published works and collaborations. https://www.vertolo.com/how …

There is currently a free 2 week trial available in order to explore if this is the right tool for you: https://www.vertolo.com/pro …

Please give it a try, thank you!

Great Article!!!

I am Jean-Pierre, a researcher-turned-entrepreneur: PhD in Computer Science (2017) + 1 year Postdoc (2018) and now cofounder of Researchout. I decided to take the path of entrepreneurship to try solving questions surrounding research using A.I.

I developed a platform https://researchout.com to help researcher find collaborators and I would like to know if it really answers your need and if it is worth pursuing this idea. 😅

Thanks in advance for your help.

Here is my facebook page I recently open https://www.facebook.com/Researchout-102541771514317

I am looking for international collaborators in the field of poverty, inequality and conflict. feel free to get to me via my Email: [email protected]

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5 Types of Research Collaboration

October 5, 2023

In a bygone era, nostalgically deemed “little science” researchers worked independently on projects that were only widely shared with others after completion. World War II, however, ushered in the age of “ big science ,” with a movement towards large-scale projects, often supported by outside funding, and conducted by teams of researchers.

Since then, these collaborative practices have continuously expanded alongside technology, global economics, and digital communication. Today, researchers work in diverse teams unbound by the limitations of geography, status, or even field of expertise.

Because contemporary research addresses complex global issues, sharing knowledge and resources through collaboration is vita l. By exploring the 5 main types of collaborative research, this article can help researchers prepare for developing these mutually rewarding partnerships.

1. Collaboration within an academic institution

This category includes various configurations of faculty, staff, administrators, and students who will collaborate on research projects. The situation may be as informal as senior students helping novices navigate the research process, or as formal as tenured faculty offering unique skills to complicated research questions.

While these teams may form within a single department, they develop between departments and across disciplines. One advantage of partnering within an institution is the ease of communication. It allows members to meet face to face regularly, review their progress, and make adjustments in real time.

2. Collaboration with other academic institutions

Collaboration between academic institutions typically forms when a Primary Investigator invites Junior researchers to help carry out various components in the research methods of an already funded project. Collaboration between institutions creates mutual benefits through the sharing of often expensive and limited resources, like specialized equipment and broader study participants.  

For Senior researchers, these partnerships often offer fortuitous insights and unique viewpoints that enrich the research process and ultimately improve the project’s outcomes. On the other hand, Junior researchers gain valuable experience, expand their professional network, and improve their credibility through association with an established research program.

3. Collaboration with a government entity

When policy makers and researchers share a common concern or question, collaboration can significantly improve the progression towards an outcome beneficial to society. The form and extent of these partnerships depends on both the contributions and the requirements of each participant.

Government agencies may act as financial collaborators by offering resources and funding opportunities for research projects related to specific interests and targeted goals. In other instances, they may solicit support from research experts to address a definitive issue, like COVID-19. 

While governmental organizations often post research collaboration opportunities, the possibilities are reciprocal. Researchers may also contact relevant agencies to submit proposals requesting cooperation on a project.

4. Collaboration with private industry

Rapidly changing businesses that thrive on innovation are pushing the scope and influence of collaboration between academic researchers and the private sector. In exchange for resources and visibility, researchers provide expertise in the development of new products and technologies.

Partnerships with academic researchers can further invigorate companies, extricating them from stagnant best practices by inciting continuous improvement. Overall, the skills and knowledge of both groups are essential to the transition from research to development of the advancements in products, methods, and services that drive society forward. 

5. Collaboration with international researchers

As globalization continues to alter the ways that people, organizations, and nations interact, the need for collaboration between international researchers and institutions grows. By broadening the cultural perspectives and applications of a research project, these partnerships increase the value of both the process and its outcomes.

Sometimes connections made during global conferences are nurtured into collaborative efforts. Students and junior researchers may forge relationships through study abroad and exchange programs. And, other times, researchers who share common goals and yet are separated by political borders and national objectives can find a common ground through collaboration.

Communication in collaboration

The success of every type of research collaboration hinges on the quality of communication between team members . While the forms of communication seem to expand daily, not all are appropriate or even plausible in every situation.

Because face to face interactions typically produce rich and meaningful results in real time, they are consistently worthwhile. Other modes of communication like phones, mail, digital platforms, and video conferencing should be used to supplement, not replace, in person meetings when collaborators are in close proximity to one another.

When differences in time and distance prevent face to face communication, collaborators must create synergy by updating one another on progress and setbacks, and sharing amended interpretations and objectives. The best way to accomplish these goals is by establishing several formal and informal contact options from the beginning with regularly scheduled meetings.

Bottom line

In this interconnected world, researchers must recognize the power of collaboration in the advancement of scientific knowledge and the discovery of global solutions. Through these collaborations, researchers break down geographical barriers, disciplinary boundaries, and institutional limitations to form diverse teams that work together to address complex research questions. 

Effective communication stands as the cornerstone of success through each step of the collaborative process, from initial team building to post-publication. While technology enables a range of communication methods, face-to-face interactions remain crucial for meaningful and rich results.

Through mutually rewarding partnerships, researchers can pave the way for the realization of innovations that positively impact humanity. By understanding the types of research collaboration, scientific knowledge will undoubtedly become more diverse, shaping an increasingly democratic and equitable world.

About the author

Charla Viera, MS

Charla Viera graduated from The University of Washington with a BA in Urban Studies and a BA in Environmental Studies. Her undergraduate research included household energy consumption and practical greywater systems. She later earned an MS in Library and Information Science from Texas Woman's University. Her graduate thesis focused on the role of libraries as community anchors in rural Texas communities.

Jonny Rhein

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How to Build a Research Collaboration

• By Yasmine U.
• July 5, 2020

How best to build a research collaboration is something that many people in the scientific and medical fields wish they knew. The process of collaboration has been around for decades, but it is only now that researchers have started to take full advantage of the process. The value of this concept should not be underestimated. With the help of the Internet, scientists are able to share their findings with colleagues across the world immediately. As such, learning how to build a research collaboration is vital for any scientist looking to advance his or her research into new frontiers. Learning how to effectively collaborate with others is also an important skill for a student to learn and develop in academia.

There are many factors that go into building a good research network and a successful collaboration. These include the sharing of ideas and data, the sharing of methods and procedures, and sharing of results and commentary. The ability to properly coordinate the activities of researchers plays an important role in getting the best results from the collaboration. For example, a well organised international collaboration could involve co-authors that never end up meeting in person but still excel by enabling access to resources at each other’s institutions that may otherwise not have been possible.

In recent years, a number of different approaches have been put into place to facilitate the process of building a research collaboration. One approach is to use social networks. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have allowed scientists to interact with each other. This is particularly useful when building an international collaboration with a collaborator in another country. If you’re a student, this is also a great way to connect with highly established researchers within your area of interest in academia.

Another way of building a research collaboration is by making use of electronic log books or journals. Through electronic journals, results and discussions can be shared among the researchers involved in a particular study. In this case, the scientists upload their work to the journal and then wait for comments and suggestions from other experts within their international collaboration before publishing their results. A key factor to be clear on early on are expectations about authorship of peer-reviewed publications and who will, for example, by first and senior authors; this can often be a source of conflict if not made clear at the start.

Another popular method is via group presentations. Presentations are often used at conferences or during lectures. These presentations often cover important topics that all the participants are interested in. Some of these topics revolve around a specific theme. The presentations allow all the participating researchers to put their findings into the open and identify those with whom they may wish to collaborate. International conferences are often the best way to meet like-minded researchers from another institute or another country.

Brainstorming sessions are another method for getting meaningful results out of collaboration efforts. Brainstorming is essentially a way of people talking to one another about their work. It may involve discussing an idea, paper, or research paper. When these conversations take place, results are sure to come out.

Building a research collaboration is easy if you put your mind to it. You must first decide what specific topic or research topic you would like to research. Next, find out who your fellow researchers are. Once these two are decided, you can then create plans on how to make your work more meaningful to each of the individuals involved.

How to build a research collaboration is not that difficult once you know the steps to take. Your plan should consist of a short-term goal as well as long-term goals. As mentioned earlier, all the individuals involved in the collaboration must be interested in the topic or research topic. If they do not share the same interest in the topic, then the plan will not work. To make it work, you must establish goals for everyone involved in the collaborative project and define realistic expectations from each collaborator.

Your research proposal should also include a summary of your research findings. This is not mandatory, but it will give your team members an idea on what they are reading. A summary is also good because it allows people to review the proposal and make their own judgments. Your work normally ends with a review of the proposals. Usually, this review includes comments and suggestions.

After reading the research proposal, you and the other researchers must then form a working group to discuss and prepare your research report. This working group will consist of the initiator of the project, members of the collaborating team, and any other interested individuals. All the members should be in agreement with the overall purpose and direction of the project. The working group should be meeting at least once a week to discuss and develop a plan to complete the research. You should try to maintain an open line of communication with the other team members. Communication is important for research collaborations, as it allows you to properly gauge the progress of the project.

The purpose of research is to enhance society by advancing knowledge through developing scientific theories, concepts and ideas – find out more on what this involves.

There are various types of research that are classified by objective, depth of study, analysed data and the time required to study the phenomenon etc.

The term rationale of research means the reason for performing the research study in question.

Join thousands of other students and stay up to date with the latest PhD programmes, funding opportunities and advice.

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The term monotonic relationship is a statistical definition that is used to describe the link between two variables.

An academic transcript gives a breakdown of each module you studied for your degree and the mark that you were awarded.

Dr Nikolov gained his PhD in the area of Anthropology of Architecture from UCL in 2020. He is a video journalist working with Mashable and advises PhDs consider options outside of academia.

Daniel is a third year PhD student at the University of York. His research is based around self-play training in multiagent systems; training AIs on a game such that they improve overtime.

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Best goal management software for your business

Miscommunication, unclear objectives, and a lack of accountability can derail even the best teams, making goal-tracking challenging.

Goal management software simplifies goal setting, tracks real-time progress, and ensures team alignment. With goal management software, you’ll transform how your team sets and achieves goals. 

In this post, you’ll learn what goal management tools are, how they streamline goal setting and tracking, and the benefits of using goal-tracking and management software. We’ll then explore some top goal management tools available to teams, including Confluence and Jira . 

What are goal management tools?

Goal management tools help teams efficiently set, track, and achieve their objectives. They simplify the goal-setting process, making it easier for everyone to understand and commit to shared goals. These tools help create action plans, assign tasks, and monitor real-time progress.

Confluence is a tool that seamlessly facilitates goal management. It easily integrates with existing workflows and provides features for setting and tracking goals, helping teams stay aligned with their objectives.

Benefits of using goal management software

Goal management software offers a range of benefits that can transform how teams set and achieve their objectives, including:

Enhanced visibility: Goal-setting software provides enhanced visibility into progress and performance. Teams can see how they’re tracking against their goals in real-time, making it easier to stay on course and adjust as needed.

Improved alignment: Goal-setting software helps you focus on team objectives. It ensures everyone works toward shared goals and business objectives, making it easier for teams to collaborate effectively and stay motivated.

Better accountability and transparency: The software also dramatically enhances accountability and transparency. Each team member knows what they’re responsible for, which fosters a sense of ownership. Transparency helps create a culture of accountability where everyone knows their contributions to overall business goals.

Clearer communication and collaboration: With tools like Confluence and Jira, teams can easily share updates, feedback, and action plans. These tools simplify coordinating activities and ensure everyone is on the same page.

How to choose the right goal management software for your team

Choosing the right goal-tracking software for your team can feel overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you make the best choice.

• Understand your team’s needs. Identify what your team requires from the goal management software. Are you focused on task management , tracking progress, or improving collaboration? Knowing your priorities will help narrow down the options.
• Consider team size. Your team’s size can influence which software is best. Smaller teams might benefit from simpler, more intuitive tools, while larger teams may need more robust features.
• Integrate with existing tools. Make sure the software you choose can integrate seamlessly with the tools your team already uses. For instance, if you’re already utilizing project management tools such as Jira, finding software that integrates well will streamline your workflow.
• Evaluate budget and cost. Consider the cost of the software in relation to your budget. Some tools offer free tiers or trial periods to test them out before making a financial commitment.
• Assess the ease of use and support. Choose user-friendly software that offers good customer support. Your team shouldn’t struggle to adopt the new tool. Look for features that will smooth the transition, such as tutorials or customer support.
• Compare options. Once you have a shortlist, compare the features, pricing, and reviews. Consider trying demos or request a trial period before making your decision.

Top choices for goal-setting and management software

The right goal-setting software can make all the difference, but choosing the right one can be tricky. Every tool is different, so it’s vital to identify where your team needs the most assistance. Here are some of the top choices available that will influence team efficiency and success:

Confluence: Best overall goal management tool

Confluence stands out as the best overall goal-management tool. Its top features and benefits include the following:

• Robust integration capabilities: Confluence integrates with many other Atlassian tools, such as Jira, allowing for a unified workflow that enhances team productivity and collaboration.
• Real-time collaboration: Teams can collaborate in real time on goal setting, action plans, and updates, ensuring that all members stay aligned and informed and fostering an accountable environment.
• Customizable dashboards and reporting: Users can create tailored dashboards that visualize progress and performance metrics. This provides clear insights into goal status and enables teams to make data-driven decisions efficiently.

Jira: Best for tracking project tasks

Jira excels at tracking project tasks with these features:

• Task management and organization: Jira allows teams to create tasks and subtasks while customizing workflows for specific project needs. This aids in maintaining clarity on responsibilities and deadlines.
• Integration capabilities: Offering seamless integration with Confluence and other tools, Jira enables teams to consolidate their goal management and project tracking efforts into one cohesive platform. This integration enhances information flow and reduces the likelihood of miscommunication.
• Visual progress tracking: Visual tools such as Kanban and Scrum boards provide real-time visualization of project status , making it easy for teams to assess their progress and identify bottlenecks. This feature encourages proactive problem-solving and ensures projects remain on schedule.

Confluence whiteboards: Best for brainstorming

Confluence whiteboards are ideal for brainstorming sessions. The software’s top features include these benefits:

• Interactive collaboration: Facilitate real-time teamwork, allowing multiple users to brainstorm and contribute ideas simultaneously. This interactive environment enhances creativity and encourages diverse perspectives.
• Visual organization tools: Teams can visually arrange and prioritize their ideas using sticky notes, shapes, and freehand drawing, making complex concepts easier to understand and develop.
• Seamless integration: Confluence whiteboards integrate smoothly with other tools. This enables users to link brainstorming sessions directly to relevant documentation and project plans , fostering easily accessible and actionable insights from brainstorming .

Jira Align: Best for strategic planning

Jira Align is perfect for strategic planning:

• Comprehensive visibility across teams: Jira Align provides a unified view of all team activities and progress. This allows stakeholders to align their efforts with overall business objectives and ensures everyone remains focused on shared goals.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: The tool offers robust reporting capabilities that enable companies to analyze performance metrics, assess capacities, and make data-driven decisions to improve strategic initiatives.
• Customizable frameworks for scaling: Jira Align supports various Agile frameworks such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). This allows businesses to adapt and tailor the platform to suit their specific scaling requirements and promotes efficient collaboration across all levels.

Atlas: Best for tracking business goals

Atlas is the go-to tool for tracking business goals:

• Centralized goal management: Atlas enables users to view and manage all business objectives in one unified platform, promoting transparency and coherence across teams. 
• Alignment with team efforts: This tool allows teams to directly link their projects and tasks to larger business goals. This ensures that every effort contributes to the overarching objectives, enhancing strategic focus. 
• Real-time progress updates: Features that provide instant visibility into goal achievements and performance metrics allow teams to quickly assess their status and make necessary adjustments to stay aligned with their targets. 

Jira Product Discovery: Best for idea prioritization

Jira Product Discovery shines in idea prioritization with these features and benefits:

• Idea backlog management: Efficiently collect, organize, and prioritize new ideas using a backlog system that helps teams focus on the most impactful projects without overlooking valuable suggestions. 
• Collaborative evaluation tools: Evaluate and discuss ideas collaboratively through comment threads and voting mechanisms. This fosters a democratic approach to prioritization and considers diverse viewpoints. 
• Roadmapping capabilities. The tool allows users to create visual roadmaps that outline the timeline and dependencies of selected ideas. This enhances clarity and communication regarding project direction and timelines across stakeholders. 

Loom: Best for async video collaboration

Loom is the best tool for asynchronous video collaboration:

• Easy video recording: Users can record their screen and webcam simultaneously. This enables clear visual explanations that improve understanding and engagement without needing live meetings. 
• Instant sharing and feedback: With straightforward sharing options, teams can distribute video messages quickly and receive real-time feedback, streamlining communication and decision-making processes. 
• Flexible accessibility: With Loom, you can access videos anytime, anywhere. Teams can work across different time zones and schedules, enhancing productivity and accommodating diverse working styles. 

Use Confluence for efficient goal management

Goal management software streamlines the process of setting, tracking, and achieving objectives, fostering clarity and alignment across teams. It centralizes goal information, enhances transparency, and enables real-time progress monitoring, leading to increased accountability and data-driven decision-making.

Confluence’s goal management software makes all of that possible and more. This streamlined, centralized platform facilitates goal-setting and tracking.

With Confluence, you can:

• Facilitate collaboration: Share and edit documents in real-time with your team.
• Improve visibility: Use goal-tracking templates to keep everyone updated on progress.
• Boost communication: Post updates and feedback directly to shared documents.

Ready to transform your team’s goal management and collaboration? Start using Confluence today .

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Green Energy Research: Collaboration and Tools for a Sustainable Future

Science Article | Green Energy | 6 Sep 2024

The Urgency of Green Energy Innovation

The recent Climate Change 2023 synthesis report emphasizes the consequences of delayed emission reductions: fewer effective adaptation options for a warming planet 2 . Geopolitical factors like the Russia-Ukraine conflict further underscore the need for a green energy transition, with Europe’s energy security concerns highlighting the reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The Green Energy Research Landscape

Against this backdrop, green energy development has become a critical area of research, reflected in a more than 10-fold increase in related publications from 2010 (1,105) to 2023 (11,346), according to Digital Science’s Dimensions database. Researchers around the world are striving to improve green energy technology and society’s ability to harness renewable energy sources more efficiently.

According to data analysed by Nature Navigator , which uses artificial intelligence to generate comprehensive summaries of research topics, ‘renewable energy systems and technologies’ is the field’s most frequently mentioned subtopic (Fig.1). At a research concept level, wind power generation, grid optimization and resource management all feature as common underlying themes.

Figure 1: Topic anatomy of green energy research First-level nodes denote the research subtopic (highest prevalence themes emerging from green energy research). Second-level nodes denote the research concepts associated with these research subtopics. Note: only the research concepts mentioned in the highest count of outputs within each subtopic are presented here. Credit: Nature Research Intelligence

Of the primary green energy research subtopics presented by Nature Navigator , it is telling that ‘materials for energy storage and conversion’ is the fastest-growing, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.2% over the last five years. This may reflect a growing consensus among researchers and industry that a lack of options to efficiently store electricity generated by intermittent renewable sources for later use is a key bottleneck preventing the greater penetration of these sources into the grid.

Real-World Example: Accelerating Heat Pump Innovation

Changmo Sung, a prominent green energy researcher at Korea University, leveraged Nature Navigator to identify trends, key areas, and potential breakthroughs in heat pump technology. This facilitated a collaborative project with LG Electronics, accelerating their research efforts.

“It also enabled the rapid discovery of researchers and institutions outside Korea working on similar or complementary projects related to heat pumps” Sung says.

• International Energy Agency, Global Energy Review 2021 (2021).
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2023 (2023).

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