No Uniform Culture: Patterns of Collaborative Research in the Humanities

Abstract

This study uses a campus scholarly networking and expertise system to examine trends in coauthorship in order to measure the prevalence of deep collaboration and readiness for team research. Bibliometric analysis of publishing patterns in four departments in the humanities shows significant differences in the rate of coauthorship by type of publication, by department, and by career phase. The data also show that coauthored research has become more common over time. Rather than a uniform culture, there is notable variation in collaborative practices between departments. This finding suggests that a more granular approach may be needed to incorporate humanities perspectives in team research.