arXiv:2605.27404cs.CYcs.AI2026-05

AI写作让科研团队更年轻更小,但影响力反而更强。

Smaller, Younger, and More Impactful: How AI-Assisted Writing Transforms Research Teams

  • 用AI辅助写作的团队平均年龄更低、人数更少。
  • 使用AI的团队产出高影响力论文的概率显著提升。
  • 适合关注科研效率与团队结构变革的研究者参考。

大科学时代长期以大型专业化团队推动知识前沿为特征。然而,近年来人工智能(特别是大语言模型)的发展正开始重塑学术写作与科研模式,可能打破团队规模持续扩大的趋势。基于2020年以来来自PLoS系列和自然出版集团共147,074篇全文论文的数据,我们考察了AI辅助写作对科研团队结构与成果的影响。通过普通最小二乘、分位数回归、泊松回归、逻辑回归及倾向得分匹配等多种方法分析发现,使用AI写作的团队普遍更年轻、更小型。重要的是,这种更紧凑、年轻化的团队结构并未削弱科研影响力,反而提升了产出高影响力论文的可能性。结果表明,AI辅助写作不仅改变了研究的生产方式,也正在重塑研究团队的构成逻辑。研究呼吁在科研评价、资助与培训政策方面做出相应调整,以适应这一新趋势。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The era of Big Science has long been defined by increasingly large and specialized research teams pushing the frontiers of knowledge. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), are beginning to reshape academic writing and scientific research, potentially disrupting the longstanding trend toward ever-larger teams and transforming other dimensions of research team structure. Drawing on 147,074 full-text publications from the PLoS family and the Nature portfolio since 2020, we examined whether and how AI-assisted writing influences team structure and team outcomes in science. Using multiple methods, including ordinary least square, quantile regression, Poisson regression, logistic regression and propensity score matching, we found that research teams using AI-assisted writing tend to be younger and smaller. Importantly, this shift toward more compact, junior-leaning teams does not come at the expense of scientific impact. On the contrary, we observed a higher probability of research teams that employed AI-assisted writing producing highly impactful publications. These results highlight the significant role of AI-assisted writing in reshaping not only how research is produced, but also how research teams are formed and assembled. Our findings call for policy improvements in research evaluation, funding, and training to address this emerging trend.

AI写作科研团队影响力

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