How to measure interdisciplinary research? A systematic, yet critical, review

Giulio Giacomo Cantone

No hva4p, MetaArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Interdisciplinary research is defined as a trait of those research activities that integrate different disciplinary traditions with the aim of reaching novel forms of knowledge that are beyond the reach of a singular discipline. From this theory, a plurality of methods has been developed to measure IDR of a body of research. These methods lead to mutually contradicting results. In this review, the most relevant measures of interdisciplinary research are compared under a unified framework articulated in three steps: identification of an available stylisation of bibliometric facts, elicitation of a formula, and definition of an estimator for the collective unit of analysis. In particular, it is discussed how the concept of integration can be measured when the unit of analysis is an atomic and static entity like a paper, as opposed to journals and authors, which are collective and dynamic agents. In the conclusive section, an isometric view is shown that combines different units of analysis and conceptualisations. A pluralistic yet pragmatic approach is advocated for the operational definition of interdisciplinarity.

Date: 2024-02-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/65c3f0a335be200ba1a50715/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:metaar:hva4p

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/hva4p

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MetaArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().