collaboration: growing benefit or necessary evil?

COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?Evidence, Thomson Reuters

JISC - Future of Research Conference

SIMON THOMSONDavid Mount, David Smith, Jonathan Adams

19 OCTOBER 2010

THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH

“The timing of this report is critical. The UK’s coalition government is facing the toughest spending decisions in recent history and the 10 year science and innovation investment framework is approaching its final stages. As the new Minister for Universities and Science has rightly acknowledged, the success of the UK’s science and research base is absolutely critical to ensuring the UK’s future economic growth and prosperity. As such, continued political commitment and investment – even in times of relative austerity – is vital.This report considers how the UK’s research community – the funders, enablers and supporters of research – can work together to build on, maintain and enhance the world-leading science and research in our universities. We hope that this report will help inform the government’s spending and policy decisions which will impact significantly on the ability of the UK’s universities to deliver the world-leading research which supports and drives the UK economy.”

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/TheFutureOfResearch.pdf



THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH

• Background– Economic crisis

– Deficit reduction

– Global competition

– Global challenges

• Literature and data review– http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/Thefut

ureofresearchliteraturereview.aspx

• 9 out of the 15 recommendations we make relate to collaboration and expanding or facilitating relationships with partners.

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/Thefutureofresearchliteraturereview.aspx

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/Thefutureofresearchliteraturereview.aspx

THE GROWTH OF COLLABORATION

• Using co-authorship to look at trends in collaboration

87%

70%

48%

28%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

Perc

enta

ge o

f UK

rese

arch

pap

ers

2+ authors

2+ institutions

Internationally collaborative

Domestically collaborative

Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters

THE GROWTH OF COLLABORATION

• Proposed reasons for the growth in research collaboration

Escalating costs of state-of-the-art facilities

Escalating costs of state-of-the-art facilities

Improved communications and transport

Improved communications and transportScience depends on

the interaction of individuals

Science depends on the interaction of

individuals

Increasing specializationIncreasing specialization

Interdisciplinary research

Interdisciplinary research

Political factorsPolitical factors

TrainingTraining

THE BENEFIT OF COLLABORATION?

• The impact of international co-authorship on citation counts

0

10

20

30

uncited > 0 < 0.125

≥ 0.125 < 0.25

≥ 0.25 < 0.5

≥ 0.5 < 1

≥ 1 < 2 ≥ 2 < 4 ≥ 4 < 8 ≥ 8

Pe

rcen

tage

of o

utp

ut

Rebased Citation Impact

UK total - 290971 Papers

Collaborative - 102754 Papers


DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION

• Different collaborative models

Corporate collaboration


Teamcollaboration

Teamcollaboration

Individualcollaboration



• Corporate collaboration



Teamcollaboration

Teamcollaboration



• Are usually means to an end collaborations• Usually driven by access to resources• Formalised network providing co-ordination for achieving strategic goals


• Team collaboration



Teamcollaboration

Teamcollaboration



• Often have a formalised existence but not defined as formal partnerships• Usually driven by the need for multi-disciplinary skills and experience• Research-focused


• Individual collaboration



Teamcollaboration

Teamcollaboration



• The most diverse category of collaboration but also the most common• Usually intellectually driven• Based on individuals’ personal relationships• Rarely formally structured


• Characteristics of different collaborative models



Teamcollaboration

Teamcollaboration



Formal

Semi-formal

Informal

Strategic goals

Problem/task focused

Intellectually driven

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

• Changing global research base– Increase in volume of papers published (1981-2008)

1400%

200%

7000%


• The UK’s international partners (co-authored publications - 2009)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Volu

me

of in

tern

ation

ally

col

labo

rati

ve p

aper

s (2

009)



• Countries ranked by the proportion of their research that is collaborative with the UK– Russia is 97th

– Iran is 98th

– Brazil is 100th

– India is 104th

– China is 105th


• Levels of collaboration with the UK against the output of different countries

1

10

100

10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Perc

enta

ge o

f pap

ers

that

hav

e a

UK

co-a

utho

r

Number of domestic publications in a five-year period (2004-2008)


BRIC


• India’s largest international collaborators in terms of co-authored papers

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

USA DEU GBR JPN FRA KOR CHN CAN AUS ITA


Num

ber

of p

aper

s

INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION

• Decline in UK Business Expenditure in R&D as a percentage of GDP

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007

Busi

ness

exp

editu

re o

n R&

D a

s a

perc

enta

ge o

f GD

P United Kingdom

United States

Canada

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

China

Source: OECDSource: OECD


• While research contracts from industry to UK universities has grown it has decreased as a proportion of total research grant and contract income

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

£-

£50

£100

£150

£200

£250

£300

£350

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Industrial contracts as a proportion of total research grant and contract incom

e

Rese

arch

con

trac

ts f

rom

indu

stry

to

UK

HEI

s (£

mill

ion)

Source: HESA

Research contracts from industry to UK HEIs

Research contracts from industry to UK HEIs as a proportion of

total grants and contracts


• The importance of collaborative relationships to the pharmaceutical sector

Universities

Contract Research

Organizations

External Manufacturing

Partners

Strategic Partners

Pharmaceutical Companies


• Know-how trading

THE COST OF COLLABORATION

• Tensions in the system– Distrust

– Lack of understanding

– Time

– Active management

– Retaining institutional identity

– The border between what to share and what to protect

THE COST OF COLLABORATION

• This highlights the need for selectivity in collaborations– In-line with the overall policy and strategy

– Return on investment

– Review

SUMMARY

• Collaboration– Increasingly important

– Growing

– Beneficial

• The UK needs to prioritise collaboration

• Novel approaches to collaboration

• Collaboration is not straight forward

COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?Evidence, Thomson Reuters

JISC - Future of Research Conference

SIMON THOMSON ([email protected])David Mount, David Smith, Jonathan Adams

19 OCTOBER 2010

COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?

Is it possible to be a researcher but not

collaborate?


How can the return on the investment required

by collaboration be measured?


Can a boundary be drawn between entities in collaborative networks or is this inevitably going to become increasingly hard

to do?


Are there systems which could be implemented to

facilitate the management of

collaboration? What would these look like?


• Is it possible to be a researcher but not collaborate?

• How can the return on the investment required for collaboration be measured?

• Can a boundary be drawn between entities in collaborative networks or is this inevitably going to become increasingly hard to do?

• Are there systems which could be implemented to facilitate the management of collaboration? What would these look like?

collaboration: growing benefit or necessary evil?

Education