Category Archives: Interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinary topics of information science: a study based on the terms interdisciplinarity index series

Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples

Interdisciplinarity is increasingly widespread. Many technological frontiers and hotspots are emerging in the intersecting research areas. The existing measurement indexes of interdisciplinarity are mostly based on the co-occurrence of authors, institutions, or references, and most focus on the tendency to interdisciplinarity. This paper introduces a new measurement index entitled topic terms interdisciplinarity (TI) for interdisciplinarity topic mining. Taking Information Science & Library Science (LIS) as a case study, this paper identifies interdisciplinary topics by calculating TI values together with Bet values, term frequency values, and others, and analyzes the evolution of interdisciplinary sciences based on social network analysis and time series analysis. It was found that the intersections of external disciplines and pivots of internal topics for LIS can be identified by the utilization of TI value and Bet values. The research has shown that the TI value can identify interdisciplinary topic terms well, and it will be an efficient indicator for interdisciplinary analysis by being complementary to other methods.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-015-1792-2

Author(s): Haiyun Xu , Ting Guo, Zenghui Yue, Lijie Ru, Shu Fang
Organization(s): Chengdu Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jining Medical University
Source: Scientometrics
Year: 2016

Impacts of an interdisciplinary research center on participant publication and collaboration patterns: A case study of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthes

Interdisciplinarity, Research evaluation, Research Examples, Research Type

Interdisciplinary research centers are typically viewed as a vehicle for creating opportunities in science where the intricacy of the research problem calls for persistent collaboration across multiple disciplines. This case study analyzed the effects of an interdisciplinary research center on the publication and collaboration behaviors of faculty affiliated with the center. The study also sought to determine through faculty interviews what factors contributed to these effects for participants whose publication and collaboration behaviors were most changed after affiliation. Results of the study indicate that affiliation with the center has a significant positive effect on participant collaboration activities, and a moderate positive effect on publication activities (i.e. publishing in new fields). Factors contributing to success cited by interviewees included organized leadership, a positive atmosphere, breaking into sub-groups, and the ability to collaborate with researchers with whom they would not have interacted outside of the center. This case study may be useful in providing a framework for early evaluation of the effects of interdisciplinary research centers on affiliated participants.

Author(s): Pamela R Bishop, Schuyler W Huck, Bonnie H Ownley, Jennifer K Richards and Gary J Skolits
Organization(s): University of Tennessee
Source: Research Evaluation
Year: 2014

http://rev.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/08/28/reseval.rvu019.abstract

Interdisciplinarity among Academic Scientists: Individual and Organizational Factors

Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples, Research Type

Today when interdisciplinary research (IDR) is becoming increasingly important
in generating innovative research results and solving complex problems in academia,
discussions of IDR antecedents, processes and outcomes are becoming increasingly
important in research policy and sociology of science. This study addresses two primary
questions: 1) what individual and organizational factors affect academic scientists’
engagement in IDR, 2) what the effects of these factors are in difference disciplines.
Drawing on a wide variety of social science theories including studies of academic tenure
system, organizational climate theory, theories about women and gender in science and
scientific and technical human capital theory, it develops four hypotheses to investigate
the effects of tenure system, university climate for IDR, gender, and industry experience
on the degree to which individual scientists engage in IDR.

Author(s): Fang Xiao
Organization(s): Georgia State University
Source: Dissertation, Georgia State University
Year: 2014

http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/pmap_diss/50

Distance and velocity measures: using citations to determine breadth and speed of research impact

Citation analysis, Interdisciplinarity, Research Type

Research that integrates the social and natural sciences is vital to address many societal challenges, yet is difficult to arrange, conduct, and disseminate. This paper compares diffusion of the research supported by a unique U.S. National Science Foundation program on Human and Social Dynamics (“HSD”) with a matched group of heavily cited papers. Continue reading Distance and velocity measures: using citations to determine breadth and speed of research impact →

Interdisciplinarity and research on local issues: evidence from a developing country

Citation analysis, Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples, Research Type, ST&I policy

This paper examines the role of interdisciplinarity on research pertaining to local issues. Using Colombian publications from 1991 until 2011 in the Web of Science, we investigate the relationship between the degree of interdisciplinarity and the local orientation of the articles. Continue reading Interdisciplinarity and research on local issues: evidence from a developing country →

Facilitating social and natural science cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the human and social dynamics program

Interdisciplinarity, Network analysis, Research profiling, Research Type, Science mapping, ST&I indicators

Research that integrates the social and natural sciences is vital to address many societal challenges, yet is difficult to arrange, conduct, and disseminate. This article analyses the cross-disciplinary character of the research supported by a unique US National Science Foundation program on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD). Continue reading Facilitating social and natural science cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the human and social dynamics program →

Visualizing Cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the US National Science Foundation Human & Social Dynamics Program

Citation analysis, Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples, Research Type, Science mapping

We report on a project to assess the interdisciplinary and research networking implications of a bold US National Science Foundation program that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Continue reading Visualizing Cross-disciplinarity: Assessing the US National Science Foundation Human & Social Dynamics Program →

The RCN (Research Coordination Network) experiment: Can we build new research networks?

Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples, Research Type

The U.S. National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (RCN) program broke new ground in funding the development of new research communities of practice. This assessment of RCN supports the conclusion that networking activity was increased for a sample set of projects compared to a control group. Journal articles resulting from RCN support score as highly interdisciplinary. Continue reading The RCN (Research Coordination Network) experiment: Can we build new research networks? →

Profiling Leading Scientists in Nano-Biomedical Science: Interdisciplinarity and Potential Leading Indicators of Research Directions

Data Type, Interdisciplinarity, Network analysis, Pajek, Research Examples, Research Type, S&T lit, Science mapping, ,

Nano-biomedical science (NBMS) is a promising area in the application of nanotechnology. This paper profiles a group of 21 leading scientists in nanobiomedicine based on high publication rate and high citations.  Comparisons with other researchers indicate that the leaders publish more in high impact journals and collaborate more extensively (team science).

Continue reading Profiling Leading Scientists in Nano-Biomedical Science: Interdisciplinarity and Potential Leading Indicators of Research Directions →