Investigating the Views of Academic Staff on Academic Synergy

The aim of this study is to examine academics' views on academic synergy. Academic synergy can be defined as the process by which two or more academics work together to achieve more than what they can individually. This study focuses on how academics can combine their knowledge and experience to achieve more efficiency/work (publications, articles, papers, projects, etc.) with the same effort they would spend alone. It is designed as a case study, applying a qualitative research method. The interviews were conducted with 21 academic staff members working at a public university. The results indicate that having a higher or lower academic title does not have a significant effect on the willingness to work together. Most of the participants stated that, for joint studies, they prefer to work with colleagues who have "academic background in the field of study". The results also revealed that academics' positive personal characteristics such as being open to cooperation, acting responsibly, and being sincere are considered as some important criteria for joint studies. The results also show that the majority prefer to collaborate with other academics rather than conducting individual studies. The academics prefer to collaborate to increase productivity and to compensate for their shortcomings. Most of them further stated that the academic incentive program introduced by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) has increased the number of collaborative studies and the motivation to work together, but at the same time, decreased the research quality and led to some unethical behaviors. The paper is concluded with some suggestions on how to achieve academic synergy among academics through conducting joint studies.