The world of cancer research is, of necessity, collaborative. You may have thought about how collaborations are formalized (for example, who gets the credit, and in what order), and perhaps about what makes some collaborations work while others fail. G. H. Hardy1 and J. E2. Littlewood were two celebrated English mathematicians at Cambridge University who, in the earlier part of the twentieth century, published some 100 joint papers in areas such as number theory and mathematical analysis. Aside from their mathematical achievements, they left us with what have become known as the “Hardy-Littlewood Axioms of Collaboration” [1], [2, p. 18] which are still worth reading almost 100 years later:
- It does not matter whether what you write to each other is right or wrong
- There is no obligation to read or answer a letter from the other
- It is preferable not to think about the same detail together
- It is indifferent if one of you does not contribute to a paper under your shared name
We’ve all faced Axiom 1 – that burst of enthusiasm to share a new idea that turns out not quite as cool as you thought – and you shouldn’t be criticized for it. Axioms 2 and 3 are attempts to maintain some independence among the authors, while Axiom 4 attempts to avoid squabbles about authorship (something reflected in part by the mathematical tradition of having authors listed alphabetically).
The Axioms are often criticized now, for example for violating accountability standards (Axioms 1, 2, 4), for encouraging unethical gift authorship (Axiom 4), and for being impractical in team settings (for creating legal, financial and ethical liabilities). I think this reflects more about the state of modern science than the intent of the Axioms!
The axioms were developed by two mathematicians. For further examples see [3]; for an interesting discussion of their relevance to collaboration in biomedical science, see [4]. As for what makes some collaborations work, and others fail …
References:
[1] of Hardy-Weinberg Law fame (1908, Science, 28, 49-50)
[2] For pithy observations about academic life, see [6]
[3] Bohr, H. (1952) Looking Backward. Collected Mathematical Works. Vol 1. Copenhagen: Dansk Matematisk Forening, xiii-xxxiv.
[4] Bollobás, B. (editor, 1986) Littlewood’s Miscellany. Cambridge University Press (an expanded version of Littlewood’s 1953 “A Mathematician’s Miscellany”, Methuen and Co. Ltd.)
[5] Cameron, P. J. blog: cameroncounts.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/collaboration-in-mathematics/
[6] Teixeira da Silva, J. A. & Dobránski, J. (2013) Should the Hardy-Littlewood axioms of collaboration be used for collaborative authorship? The Asian and Australasian Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology, 7, 72-75.
