Collaboration or teamwork? Investigating work distribution in science through contribution statements

The growth of team science in recent years challenges conventional views of authorship and collaboration in scientific research. Most studies approach teams pragmatically, focusing on their observable characteristics—e.g., co-authorship, affiliations, or project-based—without relying on a formal, theoretically-grounded definition of what constitutes a team. This talk explores the dynamics of scientific teams through the lens of contributor roles, utilizing a dataset of over half a million papers that include detailed contribution statements. By analyzing how authors coordinate their work and the nature of their contributions, we aim to draw distinctions between loose groups of collaborators and more cohesive teams. We explore the relationships between team size, composition, and task distribution, considering factors such as gender, career length, and the interdisciplinarity of team members. The results offer a deeper understanding of how collaboration and team dynamics evolve across disciplines, potentially informing policies on research evaluation and academic recognition.