Diversity and network coherence as indicators of interdisciplinarity: case studies in bionanoscience

Abstract

The multidimensional character and inherent conflict with categorisation of interdisciplinarity makes its mapping and evaluation a challenging task. We propose a conceptual framework that aims to capture interdisciplinarity in the wider sense of knowledge integration, by exploring the concepts of diversity and coherence. Disciplinary diversity indicators are developed to describe the heterogeneity of a bibliometric set viewed from predefined categories, i.e. using a top-down approach that locates the set on the global map of science. Network coherence indicators are constructed to measure the intensity of similarity relations within a bibliometric set, i.e. using a bottom-up approach, which reveals the structural consistency of the publications network. We carry out case studies on individual articles in bionanoscience to illustrate how these two perspectives identify different aspects of interdisciplinarity: disciplinary diversity indicates the largescale breadth of the knowledge base of a publication; network coherence reflects the novelty of its knowledge integration. We suggest that the combination of these two approaches may be useful for comparative studies of emergent scientific and technological fields, where new and controversial categorisations are accompanied by equally contested claims of novelty and interdisciplinarity.

The impact of partner diversity within multiparty international joint ventures

“…Researchers in different fields, including economics (e.g., Stirling, 1999Stirling, , 2007 scientometrics (e.g., Rafols & Meyer, 2010), and organizational behavior (Harrison & Klein, 2007) agree on the multifaceted nature of diversity. Although there are slight variations in the terminology used for different facets of diversity, Stirling's (1999Stirling's ( , 2007 review of research using the concept of diversity shows that, across a wide range of sciences, diversity usually includes the following three key facets: variety, balance and disparity.…”

Knowledge transfer activities in social sciences and humanities: Explaining the interactions of research groups with non-academic agents

“…and not well defined questions (Rafols and Meyer, 2010). Thus, research groups that are more heterogeneous (based on the diversity of the educational backgrounds of their members) will likely be better equipped to take a broader perspective to research problems, to have more tools and to provide interdisciplinary based solutions to socio-economic problems (Bercovitz and Feldman, 2011).…”

A bibliometric mapping of the structure of STEM education using co‐word analysis

“…Over the years, co-word analysis and co-citation analysis have been used extensively to map the structure of science in a given field of study (Courtial & Law, 1989), for example, in library and information science and women's studies (Marshakova-Shaikevich, 2005). Co-word analysis was used to determine intellectual coherence in artificial intelligence (Courtial & Law, 1989), diversity and coherence as indicators of interdisciplinarity in bionanoscience (Rafols & Meyer, 2010), and identification of technological topics in molecular biology (Roche, Besagni, François, Hörlesberger, & Schiebel, 2010).…”