Structures of Scientific Collaboration
Structures of Scientific Collaboration

Author: Wesley Shrum

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0262195593

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How technology and bureaucracy shape collaborative scientific research projects: an empirical study of multiorganizational collaboration in the physical sciences. Collaboration among organizations is rapidly becoming common in scientific research as globalization and new communication technologies make it possible for researchers from different locations and institutions to work together on common projects. These scientific and technological collaborations are part of a general trend toward more fluid, flexible, and temporary organizational arrangements, but they have received very limited scholarly attention. Structures of Scientific Collaboration is the first study to examine multi-organizational collaboration systematically, drawing on a database of 53 collaborations documented for the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics. By integrating quantitative sociological analyses with detailed case histories, Shrum, Genuth, and Chompalov pioneer a new and truly interdisciplinary method for the study of science and technology. Scientists undertake multi-organizational collaborations because individual institutions often lack sufficient resources--including the latest technology--to achieve a given research objective. The authors find that collaborative research depends on both technology and bureaucracy; scientists claim to abhor bureaucracy, but most collaborations use it constructively to achieve their goals. The book analyzes the structural elements of collaboration (among them formation, size and duration, organization, technological practices, and participant experiences) and the relationships among them. The authors find that trust, though viewed as positive, is not necessarily associated with successful projects; indeed, the formal structures of bureaucracy reduce the need for high levels of trust--and make possible the independence so valued by participating scientists.

Scientific Collaboration on the Internet
Scientific Collaboration on the Internet

Author: Gary M. Olson

Publisher: Acting with Technology

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780262151207

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Modern science is increasingly collaborative, as signaled by rising numbers of coauthored papers, papers with international coauthors, and multi-investigator grants. Historically, scientific collaborations were carried out by scientists in the same physical location--the Manhattan Project of the 1940s, for example, involved thousands of scientists gathered on a remote plateau in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Today, information and communication technologies allow cooperation among scientists from far-flung institutions and different disciplines. Scientific Collaboration on the Internet provides both broad and in-depth views of how new technology is enabling novel kinds of science and engineering collaboration. The book offers commentary from notable experts in the field along with case studies of large-scale collaborative projects, past and ongoing. The projects described range from the development of a national virtual observatory for astronomical research to a National Institutes of Health funding program for major multi-laboratory medical research; from the deployment of a cyberinfrastructure to connect experts in earthquake engineering to partnerships between developed and developing countries in AIDS research. The chapter authors speak frankly about the problems these projects encountered as well as the successes they achieved. The book strikes a useful balance between presenting the real stories of collaborations and developing a scientific approach to conceiving, designing, implementing, and evaluating such projects. It points to a future of scientific collaborations that build successfully on aspects from multiple disciplines.

Scientific Collaboration and Collective Knowledge
Scientific Collaboration and Collective Knowledge

Author: Thomas Boyer-Kassem

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0190680539

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Current scientific research almost always requires collaboration among several (if not several hundred) specialized researchers. When scientists co-author a journal article, who deserves credit for discoveries or blame for errors? How should scientific institutions promote fruitful collaborations among scientists? In this work, leading philosophers of science address these critical questions

The Changing Frontier
The Changing Frontier

Author: Adam B. Jaffe

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-08-14

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 022628672X

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In 1945, Vannevar Bush, founder of Raytheon and one-time engineering dean at MIT, delivered a report to the president of the United States that argued for the importance of public support for science, and the importance of science for the future of the nation. The report, Science: The Endless Frontier, set America on a path toward strong and well-funded institutions of science, creating an intellectual architecture that still defines scientific endeavor today. In The Changing Frontier, Adam B. Jaffe and Benjamin Jones bring together a group of prominent scholars to consider the changes in science and innovation in the ensuing decades. The contributors take on such topics as changes in the organization of scientific research, the geography of innovation, modes of entrepreneurship, and the structure of research institutions and linkages between science and innovation. An important analysis of where science stands today, The Changing Frontier will be invaluable to practitioners and policy makers alike.

Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research
Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research

Author: Henk F. Moed

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2004-09-10

Total Pages: 824

ISBN-13: 9781402027024

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This handbook offers a state-of-the-art overview of quantitative science and technology research. It focuses on the development and application of indicators derived from data on scientific or scholarly publications and patents. It comprises 34 chapters written by leading specialists in the various sub-domains. These chapters deal with theoretical and methodological issues, illustrate applications, and highlight their policy context and relevance. Authors present a survey of the research topics they address, and show their most recent achievements. The 34 chapters are arranged into 5 parts: Disciplinary Approaches; General Methodology; The Science System; The Technology System; and The Science–Technology Interface. The Editor’s Introduction provides a further specification of the handbook’s scope and of the main topics addressed in its chapters. This handbook aims at four distinct groups of readers: – practitioners in the field of science and technology studies; – research students in this field; – scientists, scholars and technicians who are interested in a systematic, thorough analysis of their activities; – policy makers and administrators who wish to be informed about the potentialities and limitations of the various approaches and about their results.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-07-15

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0309316855

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The past half-century has witnessed a dramatic increase in the scale and complexity of scientific research. The growing scale of science has been accompanied by a shift toward collaborative research, referred to as "team science." Scientific research is increasingly conducted by small teams and larger groups rather than individual investigators, but the challenges of collaboration can slow these teams' progress in achieving their scientific goals. How does a team-based approach work, and how can universities and research institutions support teams? Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science synthesizes and integrates the available research to provide guidance on assembling the science team; leadership, education and professional development for science teams and groups. It also examines institutional and organizational structures and policies to support science teams and identifies areas where further research is needed to help science teams and groups achieve their scientific and translational goals. This report offers major public policy recommendations for science research agencies and policymakers, as well as recommendations for individual scientists, disciplinary associations, and research universities. Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science will be of interest to university research administrators, team science leaders, science faculty, and graduate and postdoctoral students.

Designing Engineers
Designing Engineers

Author: Susan McCahan

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-01-27

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 0470939494

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Designing Engineers First Edition is written in short modules, where each module is built around a specific learning outcome and is cross-referenced to the other modules that should be read as pre-requisites, and could be read in tandem with or following that module. The book begins with a brief orientation to the design process, followed by coverage of the design process in a series of short modules. The rest of the book contains a set of modules organized in several major categories: Communication & Critical Thinking, Teamwork & Project Management, and Design for Specific Factors (e.g. environmental, human factors, intellectual property). A resource section provides brief reference material on economics, failure and risk, probability and statistics, principles & problem solving, and estimation.

Science Policy Under Thatcher
Science Policy Under Thatcher

Author: Jon Agar

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2019-06-03

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1787353419

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Margaret Thatcher was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, during which time her Conservative administration transformed the political landscape of Britain. Science Policy under Thatcher is the first book to examine systematically the interplay of science and government under her leadership. Thatcher was a working scientist before she became a professional politician, and she maintained a close watch on science matters as prime minister. Scientific knowledge and advice were important to many urgent issues of the 1980s, from late Cold War questions of defence to emerging environmental problems such as acid rain and climate change. Drawing on newly released primary sources, Jon Agar explores how Thatcher worked with and occasionally against the structures of scientific advice, as the scientific aspects of such issues were balanced or conflicted with other demands and values. To what extent, for example, was the freedom of the individual scientist to choose research projects balanced against the desire to secure more commercial applications? What was Thatcher’s stance towards European scientific collaboration and commitments? How did cuts in public expenditure affect the publicly funded research and teaching of universities? In weaving together numerous topics, including AIDS and bioethics, the nuclear industry and strategic defence, Agar adds to the picture we have of Thatcher and her radically Conservative agenda, and argues that the science policy devised under her leadership, not least in relation to industrial strategy, had a prolonged influence on the culture of British science.

e-Science
e-Science

Author: Claudia Koschtial

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-19

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 3030662624

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This open access book shows the breadth and various facets of e-Science, while also illustrating their shared core. Changes in scientific work are driven by the shift to grid-based worlds, the use of information and communication systems, and the existential infrastructure, which includes global collaboration. In this context, the book addresses emerging issues such as open access, collaboration and virtual communities and highlights the diverse range of developments associated with e-Science. As such, it will be of interest to researchers and scholars in the fields of information technology and knowledge management.