Multidisciplinary collaborative research teams are essential in modern day science - climate scientists need to make more accurate numerical models and genome data in biology can be overwhelming and that means working with experts in other fields  – but working as part of a team with experts outside a researcher's discipline can create its own problems so a group of researchers has published a commentary outlining a new field of study that could help resolve problems facing interdisciplinary research teams.

The new area of study, which they called the "science of team science," or SciTS (rhymes with sights), would focus on what works and what doesn't when teams of scientists are working together to accomplish an overarching research goal.

Improving teamwork in these situations is important, says Dr. Joann Keyton, a professor of communication at NC State and co-author of the paper, because research initiatives increasingly involve researchers in different disciplines, at different institutions and, often, in different countries.   Their goal is to let the research community know that the dynamics of team research are now a recognized field of study, and that they are increasingly important to both public and private research funding agencies.

Improving teamwork in interdisciplinary collaborations is going to become more important for researchers who hope to get funding from public or private sources. "This is going to affect policy," Keyton says. "When people apply for grants, they're going to be asked to demonstrate that they understand how teams can effectively work together. Simply assembling a team isn't going to be enough for funding agencies anymore – funding agencies want to know that the team will be adequately supported and able to function successfully.

"Team science raises new challenges.  Language is often a problem. For example, scientists in different disciplines may use the same term to refer to very different things. There can be a major misunderstanding between researchers on the same research team, and they won't even know it."

The increasing complexity of both scientific problems, and the teams that are assembled to tackle them, creates an opportunity for social scientists to help identify, characterize and resolve problems related to working collaboratively. "We can help investigators determine the best way, for example, to facilitate communication among team members, make consistent and informed decisions, and evaluate how well the research team is performing," Keyton says.

Citation: Katy Borner, Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski, Bonnie Spring, Brian Uzzi, Stephen M. Fiore, Kara L. Hall, Joann Keyton,  Daniel Stokols, William Trochim, 'A Multi-Level Systems Perspective for the Science of Team Science', Science of Translational Medicine, Vol. 2, Issue 49, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001399