Many research projects require a team to complete them. Working with collaborators allows you to more efficiently tackle and develop research questions. How do you find these collaborators though, especially if you don’t have an established network or are exploring a new field? While word of mouth and personal connections are always a great place to start, there are also several tools to facilitate connections.

Pivot

While Pivot is primarily a tool for finding funding, its profile section can also be used to identify potential collaborators. Click on the “Profiles” tab to explore researchers. You can view profiles by schools in Columbia or search by research topic. After searching by research topic, you will only see Columbia affiliates. To expand the search to researchers outside of Columbia, click “Outside Institutions” in the left column. The left column also has filters such as research field, role, and department name. For more information on how to use Pivot, click on “Pivot: Profile Creation and Searching” in the Related Content tab to the right.

Social Science Research Network

The Author Profile pages on Social Science Research Network are a good place to find potential collaborators. After searching for your topic of interest, click on an author’s name. This will take you to their Author Profile where you can see their publications, affiliations, and contact information. Sometimes you’ll also see a “Current Idea” section, where the author can talk about their ongoing research.

Web of Science

Web of Science is a great tool for identifying who the top researchers are in the field. After searching your topic, click the “Analyze Results” button at the top of the right side-column. Click on the “Authors” tab to see the top authors for your search. To find out their institutional affiliation, click on the author of interest and click “View Records”. Click on any paper and go to the “Author Information” section of the record. Read more Web of Science tips to find collaborators.