Why do "solo researchers" prefer to do research work "solo"?
--Pure pursuit of research craft?
--Preference for working alone?
--Past bad experiences working with collaborator(s)?
--Lack of interested collaborators in one work setting?
--Others (please specify)?
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
Dear Dennis
This is my understanding about why top academics go solo in publishing research articles.
Solo authors stand a better chance of receiving certain scholarly awards in some fields, particularly in the sciences, than co-authoring. For instance, the Nobel Laureate award in Physics and Economics are perfect examples, often given to solo authors 75% of the time.
Solo authors are more likely to be consulted by the media, government and other agencies, for advice on their line of research. But co-authoring benefits mostly academics in collegiate Universities that encourage collaborative research.
Some people believe that solo author are very intelligent, thoughtful and hardworking, and is often a measure of their individual quality particularly when the articles are published in elite ranked journals.
Now this is the important bit. Toward the end of one's academic career, having a CV with more co-authored articles than solo articles may not distinguish the academic as a renowned expert in their field, to inspire the young researchers. For this reason, many professors tend to write more solo research articles as they approach the end of their academic career.
Therefore, as a rule, each year i try to have equal proportion of co-authored papers and solo papers, in order to meet the expectation of professionals in my industry and to meet the expectations of academics that place emphasis on collaborative co-authoring in research.
This is my understanding of why authors go solo.
I hope this helps!
Regards
Peterson
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Collaboration