Science of team science explained

Science of team science (SciTS) is a field of scientific philosophy and methodology which advocates using cross-disciplinary collaboration to solve problems.^[1] The field encompasses conceptual and methodological strategies and it focuses on understanding how scientific teams can be organized to work more effectively.

Team science initiatives are designed to promote collaborative and often cross-disciplinary (which includes multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary) approaches to answering research questions about particular phenomena. The SciTS field, on the other hand, is concerned with understanding and managing circumstances that facilitate or hinder the effectiveness of collaborative science and evaluating the outcomes of collaborative science.^{[2] [3] [4]}

History

Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest and investment in large-scale, team-based research initiatives to address problems that require cross-disciplinary collaboration.^{[2] [5] [6] [7]} The rapid growth in multiple fields has created a need to establish partnerships among scientists and practitioners drawn from several different fields in order to address complex problems.^{[5] [6] [8]}

The interdisciplinary nature of SciTS initially emerged from practical concerns on the part of funding agencies, which needed to gauge the performance of team science, understand its added value, determine the return on investment of large research initiatives, and inform science policy.^[2] The term "science of team science" was first introduced in October 2006 at a conference called The Science of Team Science: Assessing the Value of Transdisciplinary Research, hosted by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.^[9] The SciTS field was further developed in a supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published in July 2008. Two years later, the First Annual International Science of Team Science (SciTS) Conference was held on April 22–24, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois, organized by the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute.

In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences established a National Research Council Committee on the Science of Team Science to evaluate the current state of knowledge and practice in the SciTS field.^[10] A committee report was later published in 2015.^[11]

In 2023, Patrick Forscher and colleagues published a review to detail the benefits of big team science such that the innovations allow gathering larger samples, allowing reproducibility and generalizability to continue.^{[12] [13]} However, there is a worry that team science could dominate.^[14] Forscher recommended that they create an advisory board, create structured bylaws, formalize ways to solicit feedback from contributors, engage in mentoring and separate idea generation from project implementation.

Methods

The definition of a successful team may be different depending on the stakeholder.^[2] SciTS uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the antecedent conditions, collaborative processes, and outcomes associated with team science, as well as the organizational, social, and political context that influences team science.

See also

• Integrative learning
• Interactional expertise
• Interdisciplinarity
• Multidisciplinarity
• Multidimensional network
• Transdisciplinarity
• Transdisciplinary studies
• Global brain

Further reading

• Azoulay P, Joshua S, Zivin JW (2010). "Superstar Extinction". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 125 (2): 549–589.
• Bennett LM, Gadlin H, Levine-Finley S (2010). "Collaboration and team science: a field guide" (PDF). Bethesda, Maryland: National Institutes of Health. Accessed May 28, 2010.
• Börner . Katy . Dall'Asta . Luca . Ke . Weimao . Vespignani . Alessandro . Studying the emerging global brain: Analyzing and visualizing the impact of co-authorship teams . Complexity . 10 . 4 . 2005 . 1076-2787 . 10.1002/cplx.20078 . 57–67 . cond-mat/0502147 . 2005Cmplx..10d..57B . 2190589 .
• Contractor . Noshir . The Emergence of Multidimensional Networks . Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication . 14 . 3 . 2009 . 1083-6101 . 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01465.x . 743–747 . free .
• Cummings JN. "A socio-technical framework for identifying team science collaborations that could benefit from cyberinfrastructure". VOSS: National Science Foundation; 2009.
• Stokols D, Taylor B, Hall K, Moser R (2006). "The science of team science: an overview of the field" (PDF). Bethesda, Maryland: National Cancer Institute. Accessed May 28, 2010.
• Rhoten D (2007). The dawn of networked science. The Chronicle Review. 54. Accessed May 28, 2010.

External links

• Annual International Science of Team Science Conference
• National Cancer Institute Science of Team Science website
  

Notes and References

1. Web site: About INSciTS . 2022-06-01 . www.inscits.org . 2022-05-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220517175414/https://www.inscits.org/about-us . live .
2. Stokols . Daniel . Hall . Kara L. . Taylor . Brandie K. . Moser . Richard P. . 2008 . The Science of Team Science . dead . American Journal of Preventive Medicine . 35 . 2 . S77–S89 . 10.1016/j.amepre.2008.05.002 . 0749-3797 . 18619407 . 17612279 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200430020225/https://webfiles.uci.edu/dstokols/Pubs/AJPM-Science%20of%20Team%20Science%20Intro.pdf?uniq=-ftp6c5 . 2020-04-30 . 2013-11-28.
3. Stokols . Daniel . Misra . Shalini . Moser . Richard P. . Hall . Kara L. . Taylor . Brandie K. . The Ecology of Team Science . American Journal of Preventive Medicine . 35 . 2 . 2008 . 0749-3797 . 10.1016/j.amepre.2008.05.003 . 18619410 . S96–S115 . 7814454 . 2013-11-28 . 2020-04-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200430020221/https://webfiles.uci.edu/dstokols/Pubs/AJPM-Ecology%20of%20Team%20Science.pdf?uniq=-ftp6bz . live .
4. Web site: System . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220814115139/http://thescienceofteams.com/index.php/tsot/system . 2022-08-14 . 2023-01-22.
5. Wuchty S . Jones BF . Uzzi B . The increasing dominance of teams in production of knowledge. . Science . 2007 . 316 . 5827 . 1036–9 . 17431139 . 10.1126/science.1136099 . 2007Sci...316.1036W . 10.1.1.118.2434 . 3208041 .
6. Jones BF . Wuchty S . Uzzi B . Multi-university research teams: shifting impact, geography, and stratification in science. . Science . 2008 . 322 . 5905 . 1259–62 . 18845711 . 10.1126/science.1158357 . 2008Sci...322.1259J . 18809307 . free .
7. Alessandroni . Nicolás . Altschul . Drew . Bazhydai . Marina . Byers-Heinlein . Krista . Elsherif . Mahmoud . Gjoneska . Biljana . Huber . Ludwig . Mazza . Valeria . Miller . Rachael . Nawroth . Christian . Pronizius . Ekaterina . Qadri . Muhammad A. J. . Šlipogor . Vedrana . Soderstrom . Melanie . Stevens . Jeffrey R. . 2024 . Comparative Cognition Needs Big Team Science: How Large-Scale Collaborations Will Unlock the Future of the Field . Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews . 19 . 67–72 . 10.3819/CCBR.2024.190001. free .
8. Vlasceanu . Madalina . Doell . Kimberly C. . Bak-Coleman . Joseph B. . Todorova . Boryana . Berkebile-Weinberg . Michael M. . Grayson . Samantha J. . Patel . Yash . Goldwert . Danielle . Pei . Yifei . Chakroff . Alek . Pronizius . Ekaterina . van den Broek . Karlijn L. . Vlasceanu . Denisa . Constantino . Sara . Morais . Michael J. . 2024-02-09 . Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries . Science Advances . en . 10 . 6 . eadj5778 . 10.1126/sciadv.adj5778 . 38324680 . 10849597 . 2024SciA...10J5778V . 2375-2548.
9. http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/scienceteam/index.html National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences Web site.
10. Web site: The Science of Team Science . National Academies Web Server sites.nationalacademies.org . 2013-01-11 . . 2018-05-09 . 2019-09-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190910010512/http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/BBCSS/CurrentProjects/DBASSE_080231 . live .
11. Book: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science . National Academies Press . Washington, D.C. . 2015-07-15 . 978-0-309-31682-8 . 10.17226/19007 . 26247083 . Committee on the Science of Team Science . Board On Behavioral . Cognitive . Division of Behavioral Social Sciences Education . National Research . Council . Cooke . N. J. . Hilton . M. L. .
12. Köhler . Tine . Cortina . Jose M. . February 2021 . Play It Again, Sam! An Analysis of Constructive Replication in the Organizational Sciences . Journal of Management . en . 47 . 2 . 488–518 . 10.1177/0149206319843985 . 0149-2063. 11343/227060 . free .
13. Forscher . Patrick S. . Wagenmakers . Eric-Jan . Coles . Nicholas A. . Silan . Miguel Alejandro . Dutra . Natália . Basnight-Brown . Dana . IJzerman . Hans . May 2023 . The Benefits, Barriers, and Risks of Big-Team Science . Perspectives on Psychological Science . en . 18 . 3 . 607–623 . 10.1177/17456916221082970 . 36190899 . 1745-6916.
14. Kreamer . Liana M. . Cobb . Haley R. . Castille . Christopher . Cogswell . Joshua . 2024-02-01 . Big team science initiatives: A catalyst for trustworthy advancements in IO psychology . Acta Psychologica . 242 . 104101 . 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104101 . 0001-6918. free . 38064907 .