Ten simple rules to cultivate transdisciplinary collaboration in data science

• Published in: PLoS computational biology Vol. 17; no. 5; p. e1008879
• Main Authors: Sahneh, Faryad, Balk, Meghan A., Kisley, Marina, Chan, Chi-kwan, Fox, Mercury, Nord, Brian, Lyons, Eric, Swetnam, Tyson, Huppenkothen, Daniela, Sutherland, Will, Walls, Ramona L., Quinn, Daven P., Tarin, Tonantzin, LeBauer, David, Ribes, David, Birnie, Dunbar P., Lushbough, Carol, Carr, Eric, Nearing, Grey, Fischer, Jeremy, Tyle, Kevin, Carrasco, Luis, Lang, Meagan, Rose, Peter W., Rushforth, Richard R., Roy, Samapriya, Matheson, Thomas, Lee, Tina, Brown, C. Titus, Teal, Tracy K., Papeș, Monica, Kobourov, Stephen, Merchant, Nirav
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.05.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Benchmarks; Biology and Life Sciences; Collaboration; Communication; Computer and Information Sciences; Conferences; Cooperation; Departments; Design; Design standards; Discipline; Engineering and Technology; Information science; Interdisciplinary aspects; Interdisciplinary research; Jargon; Knowledge; Leadership; Life cycle analysis; Management; Methods; People and Places; Project management; Reflexivity; Research and Analysis Methods; Research projects; Researchers; Roles; Schedules; Science; Science Policy; Scientists; Social Sciences; Team leaders; Teams; Terminology; Workshops; United States
• ISSN: 1553-7358; 1553-734X; 1553-7358
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008879

While many Ten Simple Rules have been written about general collaboration, data sciences collaboration, statisticians’ collaborations, and leveraging big data [2–7], we emphasize the “nontechnical” criteria that are necessary to promote effective collaborations, accelerate discovery, facilitate new partnerships, and develop the role of individuals within transdisciplinary [8] research projects—projects that combine disciplines in a nontraditional way, resulting in the development of novel frameworks, concepts, and methodologies to address scientific problems. Teams and team leaders should cocreate a project management plan with milestones and deadlines that lead to the desired output, assign roles and tasks according to the strengths and interests of each team member, and invest in the personal contribution of individual team members. To help ensure success in the design of the project management plan, team leaders should design Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) (see Table 1) and communicate it to team members early on and disseminate updates. Components of a good SOP include: * Defining the purpose of the collaboration; * Assigning roles and responsibilities for all collaboratory members involved in the project lifecycle, including principal investigators and team leads; * Outlining benchmarks of success (i.e., project milestones); and * Defining collaboration tools and how they relate to the purpose of the project, such as communication platforms and meeting schedules (see Rule 6).