The Increasing Dominance of Teams in the Production of Knowledge (with Brian Uzzi and Stefan Wuchty) Science, May 2007
Abstract: We have used 19.9 million papers over 5 decades and 2.1
million patents to demonstrate that teams increasingly
dominate solo authors in the production of knowledge.
Research is increasingly done in teams across virtually all
fields. Teams typically produce more highly cited research
than individuals do, and this advantage is increasing over
time. Teams now also produce the exceptionally high
impact research, even where that distinction was once the
domain of solo authors. These results are detailed for the
sciences and engineering, social sciences, arts and
humanities, and patents, suggesting that the process of
knowledge creation has fundamentally changed.
