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The many dimensions of laboratories’ interdisciplinarity

Author

Listed:
  • Pablo Jensen

    (UMR CNRS 5672, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon)

  • Katsiaryna Lutkouskaya

    (UMR CNRS 5672, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon)

Abstract

Interdisciplinarity is as trendy as it is difficult to define. Instead of trying to capture a multidimensional object with a single indicator, we propose six indicators, combining three different operationalizations of a discipline, two levels (article or laboratory) of integration of these disciplines and two measures of interdisciplinary diversity. This leads to a more meaningful characterization of the interdisciplinarity of laboratories’ publication practices. Thanks to a statistical analysis of these indicators on 600 CNRS laboratories, we suggest that, besides an average value of interdisciplinarity, different laboratories can be mainly distinguished by the “distance” between the disciplines in which they publish and by the scale at which interdisciplinary integration is achieved (article or laboratory).

Suggested Citation

  • Pablo Jensen & Katsiaryna Lutkouskaya, 2014. "The many dimensions of laboratories’ interdisciplinarity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 619-631, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:98:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-013-1129-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-013-1129-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sebastian Grauwin & Pablo Jensen, 2011. "Mapping scientific institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(3), pages 943-954, December.
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    4. Alan L. Porter & Ismael Rafols, 2009. "Is science becoming more interdisciplinary? Measuring and mapping six research fields over time," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(3), pages 719-745, December.
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    6. Sándor Soós & George Kampis, 2012. "Beyond the basemap of science: mapping multiple structures in research portfolios: evidence from Hungary," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 869-891, December.
    7. Loet Leydesdorff, 2007. "Betweenness centrality as an indicator of the interdisciplinarity of scientific journals," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 58(9), pages 1303-1319, July.
    8. Wagner, Caroline S. & Roessner, J. David & Bobb, Kamau & Klein, Julie Thompson & Boyack, Kevin W. & Keyton, Joann & Rafols, Ismael & Börner, Katy, 2011. "Approaches to understanding and measuring interdisciplinary scientific research (IDR): A review of the literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 14-26.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfonso Ávila-Robinson & Cristian Mejia & Shintaro Sengoku, 2021. "Are bibliometric measures consistent with scientists’ perceptions? The case of interdisciplinarity in research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7477-7502, September.
    2. Erin Leahey & Sondra N. Barringer & Misty Ring-Ramirez, 2019. "Universities’ structural commitment to interdisciplinary research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 891-919, March.
    3. Yi Bu & Mengyang Li & Weiye Gu & Win‐bin Huang, 2021. "Topic diversity: A discipline scheme‐free diversity measurement for journals," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(5), pages 523-539, May.

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