Drop Date: September 2025

Commentary by Dr. Douglas Granger.

In academia, working relationships with colleagues and collaborators can be very productive. When team science works right, it’s a fantastic experience and highly valuable for all involved. Yet sometimes it’s a heavy lift to find team members who fit right with your research program. This can be especially daunting for junior investigators who may not yet have the scientific credibility to draft more senior colleagues onto their team. If this is true for you, consider the possibility that Salimetrics could be the team supporting you and your team.

The Impact on Science

Sometimes, working with academic collaborators in teams can be more challenging than it might be worth. For example, scheduling team members from different time zones can sometimes take weeks, and as a result, deadlines are pushed or missed. Also, it’s more likely than not that each contributor hasn’t read the pre-meeting information, and so they are not “scientifically present” on the Teams or Zoom call because they are reading the information as the meeting window opens. That can be frustrating. At least some of the challenges, as noted above, are simply due to busy schedules and time demands that exceed faculty availability. It’s also possible that sometimes the challenges are due to differences in style, approach to providing criticism, and perhaps some competition related to who gets credit for what. Of course, when interdisciplinary team members are involved, each person also brings a different perspective on what might be more important.

These issues can be amplified by personal timelines, concerns about budget and salaries, and the anticipation of impending funding gaps. They can also be complex when a young investigator is requesting the involvement of a more senior collaborator who may not be generous with their time or have a rigid scientific agenda. When team science works, it is amazing. When it makes the task at hand more difficult, it can be a significant source of stress, strain, and distraction. It’s hard to do your best science in situations like those.

A Collaborative Approach

Why does Salimetrics care? We believe that exceptional biobehavioral science is indeed the result of effective and efficient teamwork. We witness it every day we live it; We believe that constructing and building teams is a key part of being a leader in the scientific process. We know that this can seem like a daunting task, and especially so for young or recently independent investigators. Where do I start? How do I find them? Who do I engage? Is that person a good candidate? Will they want to collaborate, and what do I do if they don’t? Shouldn’t I be doing this all by myself? Will they be difficult to work with? What if my budget can’t cover their effort? What will they want from me? Will they like my ideas? How do I talk about authorship? Will they pull their weight or just be present in name only?

We hear you. Salimetrics has worked for as long as we have been active in the field to reduce the issues that cause this process to be so difficult, and add to your list of things to do. Did you know that Salimetrics’ scientific team members regularly serve as Co-investigators on NIH proposals? We are generous with our time, easy to approach, responsive, pull our weight, and at the end line are not concerned at all about who gets the credit. And wait for it……. Our most senior scientists (who have hundreds of Salivary Bioscience publications under their belts across a wide range of topics and applications) do so routinely as “significant other contributors without salary.” What is it that you ask? It means their membership on the scientific team you lead provides you with the expertise you need and does not add extra burden to your budget. Exactly like team science should be.

You can do it, and we are right here if you need us. Contact Salimetrics anytime. Our role is to support your leadership in getting the job done, allowing you to focus on on what you do best.