Collaborative research increasingly relies on teams whose members bring diverse disciplinary, professional, and cultural perspectives. These teams influence every stage of the research lifecycle, from developing research questions and selecting methods to interpreting findings and engaging with communities. As a result, team-level cultural dynamics significantly influence the quality, equity, and impact of research. In Library and Information Science (LIS), however, cultural competence has primarily been examined in relation to professional practice and service delivery rather than research itself—an important gap, given that research practices underpin the evidence base that informs policy, decision-making, and knowledge creation.

The Culturally Competent Research in Library and Information Science (CCRLIS) project addresses this gap by examining cultural competence, cultural humility, and cultural intelligence as group-level phenomena embedded in research team development and collaboration. CCRLIS conceptualizes culture as produced and negotiated through social interaction rather than as a static individual trait. From this perspective, research cannot be reduced to individual attitudes or one-time training; it must be enacted through ongoing team practices, shared norms, and collective reflection.

Phase One of CCRLIS used surveys and semi-structured interviews with LIS researchers affiliated with the American Library Association's Library Research Round Table and the Association for Library and Information Science Education. Data focused on how teams form, collaborate, engage with communities, and navigate cultural considerations in research team development. Analysis followed an iterative, inductive approach, emphasizing group-level dynamics such as communication norms, shared decision-making, and collective skill development.

Findings highlighted a process-oriented understanding of culturally competent research. Participants described cultural competence as iterative, relational, and embedded across the research lifecycle. These insights informed the development of a Culturally Competent Research Framework for LIS Researchers, organized into three interconnected domains: Grounding, Practice, and Accountability. The framework emphasizes collective positionality, shared ethical and epistemological commitments, sustained learning and humility, community-engaged collaboration, inclusive research design, and ongoing review and systems-level awareness. Importantly, it is cyclical rather than linear, reflecting cultural competence as an ongoing team process rather than an endpoint.

CCRLIS frames cultural competence as a collective, developable capability shaped by team interactions, shared cognition, and institutional contexts. Integrating cultural intelligence highlights skills and practices that can be intentionally cultivated through education, training, and team development. Phase Two, in progress this year, builds on this framework by validating it with cultural experts and creating an open-access course on intercultural research practices. As collaborative research grows across disciplines, CCRLIS provides empirically grounded guidance to strengthen team-based cultural competence and support ethical, inclusive, and impactful research.