Research team diversity impacts scientific output in allergy and immunology programs

Takeya Adachi; Norika Narimatsu; Yasushi Ogawa; Masako Toriya; Tamami Fukushi; Masashi Shirabe; Masaki Futamura; Takenori Inomata; Keigo Kainuma; Keiko Kan-O; Yosuke Kurashima; Katsunori Masaki; Saeko Nakajima; Masafumi Sakashita; Sakura Sato; Mayumi Tamari; Hideaki Morita; Amane Koizumi

doi:10.1016/j.waojou.2024.101004

Research team diversity impacts scientific output in allergy and immunology programs

World Allergy Organ J. 2024 Dec 12;18(1):101004. doi: 10.1016/j.waojou.2024.101004. eCollection 2025 Jan.

Authors

Takeya Adachi^{1

2

3

4

5}, Norika Narimatsu⁶, Yasushi Ogawa⁷, Masako Toriya⁸, Tamami Fukushi⁹, Masashi Shirabe¹⁰, Masaki Futamura^{5

11}, Takenori Inomata^{5

12

13

14

15}, Keigo Kainuma¹⁶, Keiko Kan-O^{5

17}, Yosuke Kurashima^{5

18}, Katsunori Masaki^{2

5

19}, Saeko Nakajima^{5

20}, Masafumi Sakashita^{5

21}, Sakura Sato^{5

22}, Mayumi Tamari²³, Hideaki Morita^{5

24

25}, Amane Koizumi²⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
² Allergy Center, Keio University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Keio Frontier Research & Education Collaborative Square (K-FRECS) at Tonomachi, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁴ Department of Medical Innovation and Translational Medical Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
⁵ ENGAGE Task Force, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Computer Science, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Advanced Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Nagoya University Hospital, Aichi, Japan.
⁸ Global Research Institute, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ Tokyo Online University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Pediatrics, NHO Nagoya Medical Center, Aichi, Japan.
¹² Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹³ Department of Hospital Administration, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁴ AI Incubation Farm, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Telemedicine and Mobile Health, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁶ Institute for Clinical Research, NHO Mie National Hospital, Mie, Japan.
¹⁷ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Mucosal Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
¹⁹ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁰ Department of Drug Discovery for Inflammatory Skin Diseases, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
²¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
²² Department of Allergy, Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, NHO Sagamihara National Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan.
²³ Division of Molecular Genetics, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Research Center for Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁴ Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁵ Allergy Center, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁶ National Institutes of Natural Science, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: This study examined the relationship between the disciplinary diversity of research teams and research output (RO) in allergy and immunology programs funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, Medical Research Council (MRC) in the United Kingdom, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Methods: Using a dataset containing 1243, 3645, and 1468 articles funded by the NIH, MRC, and JSPS, respectively, we analyzed the correlation between disciplinary diversity and RO in allergy and immunology programs that received grants from 2017 to 2021. Diversity was measured using All Science Journal Classification codes counts, Shannon-Wiener index, and newly developed Omnidisciplinary index (o-index). The impact of diversity on RO was evaluated Normalized Paper Count (reflecting research quantity), Normalized Top 1% Paper Count (reflecting research excellence), and Normalized Top 10% Paper Count (reflecting research substantiality).

Results: There were no significant differences in diversity between the funding agencies, indicating a marginal relationship between team composition and RO (p = 0.641 for Shannon-Winner index). RO was positively correlated with team diversity in NIH- and MRC-funded programs and positively correlated with the degree of specialization in JSPS-funded programs.

Conclusions: These results underscore the complexity of the relationship between research team diversity and RO and the influence of contextual factors such as country-specific characteristics and grant program objectives. Specifically, the analysis of JSPS-funded groups suggests that the degree of specialization has a greater impact on RO than disciplinary diversity. This study contributes to ongoing efforts to optimize team composition to improve RO in allergy and immunology programs.

Keywords: Allergy; Impact analysis; Interdisciplinary research; Research output; Research team diversity.