system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What are the characteristics of good academic research collaborators?
gpt
* Communication.  Nothing works if the parties involved don't talk to each other. It can't be a one-way street - if you find yourself always following up on emails that haven't been answered - it is a less than ideal collaboration.

* Sharing the workload.  Ideally you want collaborators that help you move around your position in the author list.  You can be the driving force on some papers, and end up first on the list, but you also need "team player" papers, and then a chance to be a mentor and show up at the end of the list.

* Honesty.  Get yourself out of any collaboration where you don't trust all of those involved.  Everyone makes honest mistakes, but deception can be hard to recover from.

* Complementary skills.  If you are good at writing papers, try to work with people who can produce data, but who may be poor writers.  Find a team member who can program, or make amazing graphics.  Even the person who lives to correct grammar is important.