ANEE White Paper on Collaboration and Cowriting in Ancient Near Eastern Studies

The ANEE community has published a White Paper on Collaboration and Cowriting in Ancient Near Eastern Studies

The White Paper outlines the benefits and challenges of collaboration and cowriting within the context of ancient Near Eastern studies. While in recent years some large collaborative projects in ancient Near Eastern studies have been undertaken, the question remains why it is not practiced more. In the ‘publish or perish’ environment of modern Academia, producing publications quickly is in demand whereas in the humanities, ventures like collaborative writing are considered more time consuming and, hence, are often sidelined.

The White Paper is a joint project that has its origins in the ANEE Annual Meeting of 2023 at the Hyytiälä forestry field station. While it is authored by a working group consisting of a member of each of ANEE's three teams (Ellie Bennett of Team 1, Rick Bonnie of Team 3, and Joanna Töyräänvuori of Team 2), it aims to present a communal view of discussions that have taken place within the Centre over the past several years. 

We have found within the Centre of Excellence that collaboratively written publications are generally capable of producing more innovative research and may come with several benefits when compared to single-author papers. In the white paper we offer on behalf of the ANEE community our recommendations, discovered through trial and error, of how to make cowriting and collaborative enterprises more efficient and enjoyable for all parties involved.

The White Paper can be accessed online at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11446331