Collaborative patterns, authorship practices and scientific success in biomedical research: a network analysis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Scientometrics
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Understanding factors influencing scientific success is crucial for career development and institutional policies.
• Collaborative practices and authorship order are key elements in academic publishing within biomedical sciences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between biomedical researchers' collaborative practices, authorship positions, and scientific success.
• To determine how network positions and byline order influence citation counts and academic progression.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal quantitative analysis of 525 biomedical researchers' careers over nine years.
• Construction of co-authorship networks and analysis of byline positions in publications.
• Calculation of citation counts and estimation using negative binomial panel regression models.

Main Results:

• Collaboration generally sustained success, but excessive co-authorship did not yield additional benefits.
• Last authorship in non-alphabetical lists positively impacted senior researchers' citation counts but negatively affected junior ones.
• First authorship in alphabetical lists benefited junior academics, while senior researchers thrived in socially cohesive networks.

Conclusions:

• Authorship position and network structure significantly influence scientific success differently for junior and senior researchers.
• Findings can inform career strategies for individual scientists and policy development for research institutions.
• Optimizing collaborative and authorship practices can sustain the quality of biomedical research and patient care.