Impact of Collaboration on Research Quality: A Case Analysis of Dental Research

Collaboration is a central aspect of research, with variable impact on research output and quality. Its assessment is commonly based on citation count, but this is an inadequate measure in biomedical research. The aim of this preliminary study is to determine the impact of collaboration at three levels on the quality of dental therapy research using a valid and reliable instrument. Ninety-nine papers published in four ISI dental journals were analyzed using the MINCIR scale for methodological quality (MQ). Correlations and a linear regression model were used to determine the impact of collaboration on MQ. There was a positive and significant correlation between MQ and number of authors (r=0.2991; p=0.0026) and countries (r=0.2253; p=0.0249), but not institutions (r=0.1750; p=0.0832). The linear regression model for MQ explains 20.32% of the variance; only the number of authors and journal quartile were significant. Collaboration has little impact on MQ in this area.