The researchers used multiple forms of computerised linguistic analysis, breaking the play into segments and comparing them with securely attributed works by 10 professional playwrights active from the late 1580s to the mid-1590s.
Their method examined features such as word frequency and the spacing between terms within sentences.
Dr Rory Loughnane, who pioneered the research, told The Guardian: “That’s the new finding, both Shakespeare, now confirmed beyond doubt, and Marlowe, unexpectedly found for the first time, are present in the play, and therefore it represents a newly found collaboration between the two.
“It has massive implications for our understanding of the relationship between the two most important dramatists of this period.
“This changes both the Shakespeare canon and the Marlowe canon and will be of significant international interest.”
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