DEFINE AND REDEFINE YOUR PROJECT - Establish Rules/Terms of Agreement
Our experience: like many projects this was not something we had thought about, until it became an issue. Lots of presentations about the project were being given and there was no strategy as to who was named on each one, or who credit should be given to. This caused, at one point, a very conflictual and difficult situation. The only way it was resolved and we were able to move forward, was to agree some ‘rules’ about matters concerning presentations, conferences and publications; basically all of the things which define our reputation and give us kudos as individual academics.
Why?
Often an issue of contention in a lot of interdisciplinary projects is ownership – this can be around publications and outputs, presentations at conferences or general communications. Who is responsible for what? Who is named as an author? This is particularly important for interdisciplinary working because of different disciplinary conventions regarding such matters. So before a project begins, or at least in its early stages, it is probably worth coming to some sort of team agreement regarding the following:
Conference Presentations
• Is everyone to be named on conference presentations – even if the conference is discipline specific? Or one or two people from the project are presenting?
• What if the paper has been written solely by one person?
• Will you give other project members a chance to comment on the presentation? How long will you give them? What happens if someone responds after the deadline?
• How will you handle amends? Whose decision is final?
• What about conference proceedings? All of the above applies to those as well.
Publications
• Is everyone to be named on each publication?
• If so, will there be a lead author that takes responsibility for it and write it?
• Publications will need to be circulated amongst everyone to comment on – how long will you give people to respond? Will there be a cut off if people do not respond then their opinion is vetoed?
• There may be grey areas with this that may need to be negotiated amongst the team, for instance in the case where Research Associate’s need solo authored pieces to gain credibility and build a career. Think about such issues and who in the team they may concern
Outputs
As with publications and conferences other outputs also need some terms of agreement – this could form part of the project’s pathways to impact. But to avoid contention further on in the project it also needs discussing.
Something else to consider….
Of course terms of agreement can extend to how you conduct research. What are the roles and responsibilities of those involved? Be aware though a generic list of responsibilities, shared by all, might be more encouraging to interdisciplinary working than specific tasks assigned to specific disciplines. The latter is likely to only reinforce disciplinary preconceptions and boundaries.
Who takes responsibility for this with any participants you are working with? Are there terms of agreement with them?