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Scientometrics

, Volume 72, Issue 1, pp 117–147 | Cite as

Measuring researcher interdisciplinarity

  • Alan L. Porter
  • Alex S. Cohen
  • J. David Roessner
  • Marty Perreault
Article

Abstract

We offer two metrics that together help gauge how interdisciplinary a body of research is. Both draw upon Web of Knowledge Subject Categories (SCs) as key units of analysis. We have assembled two substantial Web of Knowledge samples from which to determine how closely individual SCs relate to each other. “Integration” measures the extent to which a research article cites diverse SCs. “Specialization” considers the spread of SCs in which the body of research (e.g., the work of a given author in a specified time period) is published. Pilot results for a sample of researchers show a surprising degree of interdisciplinarity.

Keywords

Subject Category Interdisciplinary Research Research Domain Research Knowledge Pilot Sample 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI)IrvineUSA
  2. 2.Technology Policy and Assessment CenterGeorgia TechAtlantaUSA

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