Research collaboration in the social sciences: What factors are associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration?

Richard Woolley, Mabel Sánchez-Barrioluengo, Tim Turpin and Jane Marceau

Science and Public Policy, 2015, vol. 42, issue 4, 567-582

Abstract: Attention is increasingly directed toward better understanding the factors driving collaborations among researchers, particularly between researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. This study investigates factors associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaboration in the social sciences. We utilize data from a survey of Australian-based social scientists. Interdisciplinary collaboration constitutes a considerable proportion of social scientists’ collaboration activity. Factors linked to the duration and diversity of research careers are positively associated with participation in collaborations. Job experience in Australian and foreign universities also boosts total collaboration, while holding an international citizenship increases interdisciplinary collaboration. Interdisciplinary collaborations are also associated with researcher orientation toward applied research activity. Investment in social science research is important for maintaining existing interdisciplinary and applied collaborations, although better information on these collaborations is desirable. Measures to expand such collaborations should take career stage into account. Broad-based population policies may also be an important underlying factor supporting international collaboration.

Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/scipol/scu074 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:oup:scippl:v:42:y:2015:i:4:p:567-582.

Access Statistics for this article

Science and Public Policy is currently edited by Nicoletta Corrocher, Jeong-Dong Lee, Mireille Matt and Nicholas Vonortas

More articles in Science and Public Policy from Oxford University Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().