Themes

Collaboration In Research

What is this about?

Many times, research requires a collaborative effort in order for it to be completed and this could have a number of challenges. While a collaboration may be permanent or temporary, in both cases, the partners must consider the principles of their colleagues during their work. Although they shouldn’t ignore their own values, they have to be flexible and be able to adapt to their partners’ ways for the research to be a success.

Why is this important?

Scientific research is often done in a team, hence, one must be prepared to collaborate with others. Every researcher must know their role and what is expected of them before they begin their research, in order to avoid conflict. Having a list of principles that every scientist must follow throughout their research ensures that there won’t be any clashes or misunderstandings in the resulting works. All research components should be in sync and make sense when merged together in the final results.

For whom is this important?

Academic institutionsAll stakeholders in researchBachelor studentsCollaborating researchersGraduate and postgraduate studentsLaboratory researchers

What are the best practices?

Before the research commences, all researchers must be in agreement on a number of components. First of all, they should agree on what they are aiming for and the goals of their research as well as what is expected from them and their part of the research. Moreover, they should also plan for ways of meeting and communicating and how they will handle any cases of conflict. Also, all researchers should put forward any virtues that they wish to be followed, in order to ensure that everyone is respected and protected.

Researchers should be aware of differences in research practice and should try to reach consensus in the design of their research and how they will be implementing it. All researchers should take responsibility for their part of the work and hold themselves accountable for it. Also, one must communicate and seek advice in case of any difficulties in their work as after all, the purpose of a collaboration is to work together and help each other. It could also be beneficial for researchers to review one another’s work besides their own.

Finally, before any work is submitted, all researchers should give their consent and make sure that there was no breach of research integrity. Also, all collaborators should be given credit for all the parts that they contributed towards.

Mariah Gauci contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Mar 03, 2022

Other information

Who

Office of Research Integrity

Where

Malta

Virtues & Values

Good Practices & Misconduct

Collaborative research