Communication in international collaborative research teams. A review of the state of the art and open research questions

Abstract

<p>In Communication Science, international scholarly communication and collaboration practice still remain unknown territory. Therefore, a systematic review of the state of the art on scholarly communication practice in international research collaborations (IRCs) was carried out that included a broad spectrum of disciplines and research fields such as Communication Science, Business and Management Studies, Sociology, science studies, and the science of team science. A sample of 168 contributions focusing on IRCs were identified. The paper outlines focus and methodological designs of those contributions, provides insights into the composition of the observed IRCs, summarizes the perspectives of the disciplines and research fields, presents the insights into communication structures and processes in IRCs, and discusses the aspect of team diversity, which some studies indicate as relevant for communication practice in IRCs. Overall, research largely focuses on the structural dimension of communication, while empirical analyses on the actual communication processes among scientists in IRCs are still rare. Secondly, research is missing on how team complexity is dealt with in IRCs and what impact it has on collaboration processes and success. A third and fourth research gap are identified regarding the use of a joint collaboration language and the communication processes in Social Sciences and Humanities. Future research should broaden its analytical focus to fill those gaps. This would provide important insights from an epistemological and a practical perspective, by offering the foundation for the development of guidelines and toolkits for future IRCs, thus contributing to the success of such forms of research and knowledge creation. </p>

International Collaboration in the Field of Educational Research: A Delphi Study

“…Socio-cognitive and emotional factors relate to the micro level and include trust and social presence, with initial face-to-face meetings found to enable more complex and intense interactions (Ku, Gil-Garcia, & Zhang, 2016;Wöhlert, 2020). Researchers who have collaborated before are also more likely to collaborate together again (Fernández, Ferrándiz, & León, 2016), with one educational researcher in Yemini's (2019) study likening IRC to cliques in high school and describing it "like Beverley Hills 90210" (p. 9).…”

“…Despite this, the very nature and definition of (international) research collaboration, alongside its measurement, has been contested (e.g., Bardakcı et al, 2018;Bu et al, 2018;Macfarlane, 2017). Whilst co-authorship is a popular and accepted measure of research collaboration, not all research collaborations result in co-authored publications (Chen et al, 2019;Kumar & Ratnavelu, 2016); rather, further data needs to be considered alongside co-authorship (Hall et al, 2018;Kahn, 2018), and in particular, studies are required that explore researcher perceptions and practices (DeHart, 2017;Henriksen, 2018;Wöhlert, 2020;Yemini, 2019).…”

“…Bibliometric data has been shown, however, to underestimate collaboration levels (Iglič, Doreian, Kronegger, & Ferligoj, 2017), due to hidden international collaborations not expressed through co-authorship (Khor & Yu, 2016). In response to calls for further research on technology use by researchers for collaboration (Hall et al, 2018;Leahey, 2016), as well as on the costs and challenges of IRC (Chen et al, 2019), this article presents the results of a three-round Delphi study, conducted between October 2018 to January 2019, exploring researcher understanding of the reasons, benefits and barriers of collaborating internationally in educational research; a field in need of further exploration in regards to IRC (Wöhlert, 2020). It will particularly focus on the impact of digitalisation, given the issues previously identified when using technology to facilitate international collaboration (Bukvova, 2010), as well as the importance of technology for research and collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will then provide recommendations, to help guide institutions to facilitate IRC.…”

Varieties of collaboration: On the influence of funding schemes on forms and characteristics of international collaborative research projects (ICRPs)

“…International research collaboration became an object of investigation in the 1960s and has developed both in quantity and quality since. The growth and differentiation of this extensive body of research is captured in literature reviews from each decade (Bozeman & Boardman, 2014; Bozeman et al., 2013; Bukvova, 2010; Chen et al., 2019; Katz & Martin, 1997; Subramanyam, 1983; Wöhlert, 2020). They show that we already have extensive knowledge on the motives for collaboration, the actors involved, the factors that promote collaboration, and especially the extent of collaboration and its effects, and its benefits and costs.…”

“…However, some barriers to collaboration (e.g., distance, language, or national barriers) seem to persist, and the interaction effects and synergies between supranational (EU) and national funding cannot be clearly distinguished (see, e.g., Cuntz & Peuckert, 2015; Hoekman et al., 2013; Mattsson et al., 2010). Also, geographical collaboration patterns differ significantly between disciplines and fields, but most studies have been devoted to the investigation of STEM+ fields (STEM plus medicine) (Chen et al., 2019; Wöhlert, 2020).…”