Abstract

Scientific collaboration has increased over the past two centuries, a fact for which various explanations have been proposed. We offer a novel functional explanation of this increase in collaboration, grounded in a sequential model of scientific research where the priority rule applies. Robust patterns concerning the differential success of collaborative groups with respect to their competitors are derived, and it is argued that these patterns feed the development of collaboration. This general mechanism may trigger an ‘arms race’ and is compatible with a certain amount of decreased productivity in collaborative groups as well as some over-collaboration. The proposed explanation succeeds in integrating various factors usually associated with the rise of collaboration.