Proceedings of ISSI 2005, pages 305–309. Edited by P. Ingwersen and B. Larsen. Are There Research Teams in a “Little Science” Discipline such as Mathematics? 1 María Bordons, María Teresa Fernández, Fernanda Morillo and Isabel Gómez mbordons@cindoc.csic.es, mtf@cindoc.csic.es, fmorillo@cindoc.csic.es, igomez@cindoc.csic.es Centre for Scientific Information and Documentation (CINDOC), Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Joaquín Costa 22, 28002 Madrid (Spain) Abstract The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of collaboration in Mathematics, which has been described as one of the less collaborative disciplines within the hard sciences. Scientific production of Spain in the area of Mathematics, years 1996-2001, was downloaded from SCI database, to which MathSci thematic codes were added. Trends in the collaboration between authors and centres in the area are analysed at the discipline level and differences between thematic specialities in behaviour and visibility are shown. A steady increase in the different collaboration indicators is observed in the area, although below that described for all areas combined. At the micro level research teams are identified through co-authorship analysis and an in-depth study of the most productive teams is developed. Individual and collective research coexists in the area. An exploratory study of the relationship between variables through multivariate analysis shows that the number of publications tends to increase with team size, while productivity tends to decrease; large teams are more likely to collaborate both at the national and at the international level; and national collaboration fosters interdisciplinarity. Expected impact is enhanced by international collaboration. Some conclusions with science policy implications might be drawn. Introduction Different reasons have been put forward to explain the increasing role of collaboration in research. Since research is becoming increasingly complex, collaboration between specialists in different disciplines is necessary to solve scientific inquiries and understand nature. Moreover, collaboration is a source of interdisciplinarity, which has emerged as a decisive factor in the production of new knowledge and has lead to the greatest scientific advances as a result of the cross-fertilization process that occurs among disciplines. Numerous studies on collaboration from different points of view have been published in the last years (see for example Newman, 2004; Melin, 2000; Katz, 1997). The trend to collaborate varies according to the disciplines. It is the norm in “big science”, in which large teams work in the development of sophisticated research projects (i.e. particle physics), while it is less frequent in certain “little science” areas such as Mathematics and especially in different disciplines of Social Sciences and Humanities. The fact that research in the latter needs neither large teams nor sophisticated laboratory techniques is the underlying reason for its low collaboration. However, collaboration tends to increase also in these traditionally low-collaborative areas, which are also learning to take advantage of the benefits of the interactions among scientists. The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of collaboration in Mathematics, which has been described as one of the less collaborative disciplines within the hard sciences (Newman 2004). The following questions are addressed: • Is collaboration increasing also in this area during the last years? • Are we able to distinguish occasional collaboration from the more sustained collaboration that occurs within a research team? Are there research teams in the area? • Are there differences in the trend towards collaboration of the different disciplines within the Mathematics area? 1 This work was financed by the Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+I (BFF2001-4415-E). We would like to thank Manuel de Leon and David Martin for their valuable contribution as experts in the field of Mathematics.