The Supplement "Science of Team Science", published in the The American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) in August 2008, is devoted to assessing the value of interdisciplinary research and examines factors in science and society that have increased the necessity for more wide-spread and in-depth evaluations of interdisciplinary science. The study of team science is aimed at understanding and enhancing the results of collaborative research, training, and translational programs.

Author: Amy A. Eyler

Social and public health problems are complex and require a multidiscipline approach to developing solutions. Perspectives from scholars and practitioners representing diverse disciplines can help in problem solving by contributing unique knowledge, methodological approaches, conceptual frameworks, and theories. Transdisciplinary (TD) research establishes a shared understanding of individual and group contributions through social process in the interest of scientific innovation and generation of new knowledge. “The science of team science” identifies models and recommendations for the most effective TD.

Authors: Bonnie Spring, Kara L Hall, Arlen C Moller, Holly J Falk-Krzesinski

A meta-trend, observable over the past several decades, is that work is being conducted increasingly by teams. The proportion of scientific publications authored by groups rather than solo authors has more than doubled in the past 50 years. As the volume of scientific knowledge has expanded over time, it has become increasingly difficult for a single individual to have deep expertise in multiple disciplines.

Authors: Kara L. Hall, Amanda L Vogel, Brooke A Stipelman, Daniel Stokols, Glen Morgan, Sarah Gehlert

The complexity of social and public health challenges has led to burgeoning interest and investments in cross-disciplinary team-based research, and particularly in transdisciplinary (TD) team-based research. TD research aims to integrate and ultimately extend beyond discipline-specific concepts, approaches, and methods to accelerate innovations and progress toward solving complex real-world problems. While TD research offers the promise of novel, wide-reaching, and important discoveries, it also introduces unique challenges.

Authors: Melissa A. Clark, Michelle L. Rogers, Julie Boergers, Christopher W. Kahler, Susan Ramsey, Frances M. Saadeh, David B. Abrams, Stephen L. Buka, Raymond Niaura and Suzanne M. Colby

The increasing complexity of scientific problems related to lifestyle risk factors has prompted substantial investments in transdisciplinary or team science initiatives at the biological, psychosocial, and population levels of analysis. To date, the actual process of conducting team science from the perspectives of investigators engaged in it has not been well documented. We describe the experience of developing and implementing data collection protocols using the principles of transdisciplinary science.