Most researchers devote their careers to one field of research and
spend their time talking with colleagues with similar interests. However,
science is increasingly best served when researchers work with colleagues
in other fields. Physicians and engineers have teamed together to develop
miniature wireless devices that can gather information while passing
normally through the body. Computer scientists are working with organic
chemists and biologists to develop faster computers and more flexible
display devices. Collaborative projects encourage researchers to pursue
interdisciplinary research.
For the most part, interdisciplinary research follows the same rules
and practices as disciplinary research. There are times, however, when
researchers in different fields bring different practices or expectations
to a project. When this happens, researchers might think of adopting
two common-sense rules:
- do not ignore any responsibilities, and
- when there are choices about appropriate action, select the most
demanding option.
When in doubt, it makes sense to seek the highest rather than the
lowest denominator.
Different expectations can enter a project in a number of ways, especially
when judgments about responsible practice are involved. The government
and some research institutions allow researchers to earn up to $10,000
through consulting or other outside employment before they have to declare
a potential conflict of interest (discussed in Chapter 5). Others institutions
use lower thresholds, in some cases requiring researchers to report
conflicts of interest if they have any outside financial interests.
Different institutions also manage conflicts of interest in different
ways, from supervision or reporting to outright prohibition. When there
are differences in reporting policy, the prudent course of action is
to go with the lowest financial threshold and accept the most stringent
management plan, even though some researchers working on the collaborative
project may not be required to do so.
Ownership issues also raise questions about which rules to follow.
One party to a collaboration may have no interest in reporting a promising
idea for development; another may feel under an obligation to do so,
following either a university’s or Federal policy. There may also
be different understandings among the different institutions that are
part of a collaboration about what constitutes disclosable information
and who owns the information once it is disclosed. Given the consequences
of disputes that can erupt in these situations, it is essential that
every collaborative project settle disclosure and ownership issues early
in the project before disputes arise. Waiting longer opens the door
for misunderstandings and disputed claims when one of the parties in
the collaboration makes a valuable discovery.
Finally, there are significant differences in the way researchers
in different fields and even different laboratories carry out the routine
business of collecting data and publishing results. Some still collect
data in bound laboratory notebooks; others use computers. In some fields,
it is common practice to circulate early results in newsletters and/or
abstracts; in other fields, journal publications are the preferred mode
of communication. Different fields have different ways and standards
for listing authors. These and other differences should be addressed
openly and early in any collaboration to assure that misunderstandings
do not arise later over data collection and publication.