How can I use this book?

So, you’ve picked up this book, perhaps a little curious about what it might say and maybe about the different ways in which this book could be used.

We, the authors, with our highly varied backgrounds, would describe ourselves in part as research collaboration practitioners or integration experts. We have written this book as a guide to the practice of research collaboration, irrespective of topic, size, or age of the teams involved. Therefore, we envision anyone reading this book will mark it up with pen, pencil, or highlighter, put page markers in it, and identify key sections to share with others. We imagine that you will keep it close at hand to refer to again. Regardless of where you are in your research journey, you will find something useful in this book. Here are some categories of people we think will benefit:

Researchers and team leaders: For those engaging or preparing to engage in collaborative work, this book can serve as a guide, provide the means to diagnose challenges that teams are facing, and suggest ways to intervene and make improvements.

Facilitators, consultants, coaches (internal or external): This book explains the theory and gives practical ideas to people whose role it is to help a group of individuals develop into a highly effective collaborative team. They could use this book to advise teams and organizations on the relevant points of human interaction in the context of research collaboration or to work with administrators to include a culture of collaboration, as a component of the overall organization.