The participation of multiple investigative groups requires careful attention to the creation of a community of collaborating investigators within a consortial setting. Because the consortial approach (37, 86) is a new way of doing science for most biologists, investigators sometimes need to adapt to a new scientific culture characterized by data sharing and openness. Many well-functioning consortia share several guiding principles, including “no surprises” (declaring to other consortium members the intent to initiate projects, or submit abstracts, publications, grants, etc.) and “don’t use other people’s data to gain a competitive advantage over them.” In addition, a general sense of trust, common purpose and willingness to share credit is essential, and care must be taken to manage or avoid participation in separate but overlapping efforts. Typically, consortia work best when investigators recognize that the advantages of increased power to make discoveries and access to a large shared data set outweighs the perceived cost of sharing data and credit. Academic institutions need to recognize properly the contributions made by investigators who may not be (co-)first or (co-)last authors. It is important that
