Co-authoring Strategies in Business Research: Strategic approaches to co-authoring

Forward
Welcome to the second in the series of peer learning handbooks developed by PhD and MPhil research
students to help assist their peers along the academic writing journey. This handbook addresses co
authoring strategies in business research. The students are discovering much to debate about co
authoring in academic writing. While co-authoring has shown to lead to higher research output and
productivity for researchers, there are challenges. Not least ensuring a fair contribution of each
author can be expected in an ethical approach. Recognising different co-authoring strategies is very
helpful before embarking on a co-writing exercise. Strategic approaches to co-authoring might be
because of multidisciplinary expertise that can speed up the socially constructed process of developing
a paper. It may either be sensible for early career academics to bring in publication expertise to a
writing team to help position work and manoeuvre the publication minefield. It may simply be two
writers with similar background and expertise grafting to share workload and support each other
towards a common goal.
Overall, while the authors in this book span the debate from the benefits of and approaches to co
authoring to the challenges and practical concerns, the evidence remains that co-authoring can ensure
more output for writers. However, it should be a planned and strategic process that should be a fun
co-learning experience.
The handbook is structured starting with Chapter 1 by Tara Holland and Saba Shahzadi tracking the
emerging popularity in academic co-publishing over recent decades and defining what co-authoring
and co-authorship means. Chapter 2 offers strategic approaches to co-authoring to ensure that it
does assist researcher productivity. Contributions to chapter 2 are co-authored by Duke Debrah
Afrane, Joanna Kossykowska, Akanksha Lohmore, Edi Oliveira and Kevin Paul Corbett. Moving to
Chapter 3, the authors Thi Ngoc Dao, Intesar Madi, Christina Kenny, Rawayda Abdou and Lindsay
Harrison offer insights into the darker side of co-authoring including the lack of standards within
business disciplines and the need for fair contributions. The handbook finishes with Chapter 4 offering
practical guidance for overcoming the challenges of co-authorship, especially the need to define roles
and responsibilities and plan upfront to foresee and minimise potential problems that might occur as
the work progresses. Chapter 4 is co-authored by Clodagh O’Reilly, Talal Sorour, Elun Hack and
Shubham Sharma.
Well planned academic co-authoring should be an educational and enjoyable process where roles and
responsibilities are understood and respected. All academics will have co-authoring opportunities as
their PhD or research work progresses and reflecting on the issues in this handbook will help healthy
writing relationships to evolve and prosper.
Deirdre McQuillan
Editor