Journal article
The more multidisciplinary the better? – The prevalence and interdisciplinarity of research collaborations in multidisciplinary institutions
Journal of informetrics, Vol.12(3), pp.736-756
08/2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2018.06.006
Abstract
•Analyze 90,000 papers by 2500 faculty members in institutions from three areas.•A more multidisciplinary institution does not have more research collaborations.•Collaborations in more multidisciplinary institutions are more interdisciplinary.
Scientific research is increasingly relying on collaborations to address complex real-world problems. Many researchers, policymakers, and administrators consider a multidisciplinary environment an important factor for fostering research collaborations, especially interdisciplinary ones that involve researchers from different disciplines. However, it remains unknown whether a higher level of multidisciplinarity within an academic institution is associated with internal collaborations that are more prevalent and more interdisciplinary. Analyzing 90,000 publications by 2500 faculty members in over 100 academic institutions from three multidisciplinary areas, information, public policy, and neuroscience, we investigated the connection between multidisciplinarity and research collaborations. Based on social network analysis and text mining, our analysis suggests that more multidisciplinary institutions are not necessarily more collaborative, although they do feature collaborations that are more interdisciplinary. Our findings provide implications for academic administrators and policymakers to promote research collaborations and interdisciplinarity in academic institutions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The more multidisciplinary the better? – The prevalence and interdisciplinarity of research collaborations in multidisciplinary institutions
- Creators
- Zhiya ZuoKang Zhao
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of informetrics, Vol.12(3), pp.736-756
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.joi.2018.06.006
- ISSN
- 1751-1577
- eISSN
- 1875-5879
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/2018
- Academic Unit
- Business Analytics
- Record Identifier
- 9984083842402771
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