Collaboration in computational musicology

Abstract Productivity and collaboration are defined in terms of a 1966 study of a scientific group. These two parameters in a humanistic subject, computational musicology, are compared with the earlier study. The two most collaborative musicologists are also most prolific. However, only 15% of the humanistic literature are involved in coauthorship as compared with 80% of the scientific subject. Although heavy collaboration is an effective mechanism to stimulate substantially higher productivity, there is also a distinct core of highly prolific musicologists who collaborate very little, if at all. We suggest that such evidence supports the traditional belief that the humanist has a general tendency to work alone.