Trading Cultures: Resource Mobilization and Service Rendering in the Life Sciences as Revealed in the Journal Article’s Paratext

Formal and informal modes of collaboration in life sciences research were explored paratextually. The bylines and acknowledgments of more than 1,000 research articles in the journal Cell were analyzed to reveal the strength of collegiate ties and the importance of material and ideational trading between both individuals and labs. Intense coauthorship and subauthorship collaboration were shown to be defining features of contemporary research in the life sciences.