The Team Science Readiness Framework for scientific research collaboration

Multidisciplinary research teams need a practical structure for assessing and improving their readiness to collaborate effectively. We developed the Team Science Readiness Framework (TSRF) to address this need.

Team science considerations were initially identified by team science and healthcare experts, including the authors and affiliated collaborators, and were supplemented through a literature review. The framework was iteratively refined, prioritizing practical relevance, robust empirical support, and actionable factors that could be targeted through feasible interventions for improvement or sustainment.

The resulting TSRF comprises tangible, evaluable, and actionable considerations for science teams and provides a structure for organizing existing tools and resources. It addresses the research process across three stages: building teams during the early phases of a research project; managing teams while executing the research plan; and sustaining, growing, or gracefully closing teams as individual projects conclude.

By emphasizing actionable and empirically supported constructs, the TSRF offers a practical approach to evaluating multidisciplinary research-team readiness and guiding interventions throughout the team lifecycle.