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New concept of the affinity between research fields using academic journal data in Scopus

Author

Listed:
  • Ryo Takahashi

    (Tohoku University)

  • Kenji Kaibe

    (Tohoku University)

  • Kazuyuki Suzuki

    (Tohoku University)

  • Sayaka Takahashi

    (Tohoku University)

  • Kotaro Takeda

    (Tohoku University)

  • Marc Hansen

    (Tohoku University)

  • Michiaki Yumoto

    (Tohoku University)

Abstract

We propose a new concept for measuring the affinity between fields of academic research. The importance of interdisciplinary research has been increasingly emphasized in recent years. The degree of interdisciplinarity of a research article can be determined using bibliographic information from the cited literature. However, the properties of the affinity of each field to other fields have not yet been discussed. Therefore, we employ our method to quantify the affinity between 27 research fields using academic journal data from the citation and abstract database Scopus. We show that the affinity between fields should be viewed from two perspectives: the affinity of other fields to the field of interest, and the affinity of the field of interest to other fields. We identify the fields of “Arts and Humanities” and “Social Sciences”, and “Earth and Planetary Sciences” and “Environmental Sciences”, as those with the highest bidirectional affinity. We also demonstrate that affinity to “Medicine” is particularly high, with seven fields of interest having the highest affinity to this field: “Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology”, “Immunology and Microbiology”, “Neuroscience”, “Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics”, “Nursing”, “Dentistry”, and “Health Professions”.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryo Takahashi & Kenji Kaibe & Kazuyuki Suzuki & Sayaka Takahashi & Kotaro Takeda & Marc Hansen & Michiaki Yumoto, 2023. "New concept of the affinity between research fields using academic journal data in Scopus," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3507-3534, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:128:y:2023:i:6:d:10.1007_s11192-023-04711-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-023-04711-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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