White Paper on Collaboration and Cowriting in Ancient Near Eastern Studies

This 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. We have found within the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE) 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.