Collaborations are more important and more common in science nowadays, and a Nature editorial calls for researchers to embrace that trend and to expand their partnerships beyond national boundaries.
The editorial says that "[t]he benefits of international partnership are clear," and adds that research from international teams receives more attention and more citations.
According to a Nature analysis, about 70 percent of academic papers coming out of the University of Cambridge include a co-author from another country. Those partnerships, it adds, are no longer always with other high-profile science spots in Europe, the US, or Japan. It adds that Spanish and Portuguese researchers are increasingly teaming with researchers in South America while Australian researchers are working with colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region.
In its editorial, Nature also encourages researchers to seek collaborators in developing countries as well, as equal contributors.
"The long-term solution to inequality of opportunity is equality of investment. For now, researchers involved with such asymmetric collaborations must ensure that they do not take advantage," it adds. "As horizons expand, so must the professional codes and ethical safeguards that reward input with appropriate credit and govern the fair and equitable use of data and materials."