IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/infome/v19y2025i1s1751157724001263.html

Inter- and intra-domain knowledge flows: Examining their relationship with impact at the field level over time

Author

Listed:
  • Abramo, Giovanni
  • D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea

Abstract

Just as innovations often succeed in fields beyond their original domains, this study explores whether the same applies to scientific discoveries. We investigate the flow of knowledge across scientific disciplines by analyzing connections between 2015 cited publications indexed in the Web of Science and their citing counterparts. Specifically, we measure the rates of knowledge dissemination within and across different fields. Our study addresses key questions about disparities between inter- and intra-domain dissemination rates, the relationship between dissemination types and scholarly impact, and the evolution of these patterns over time. These findings enhance our understanding of knowledge flows and provide practical insights with significant implications for evaluative bibliometrics.

Suggested Citation

  • Abramo, Giovanni & D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2025. "Inter- and intra-domain knowledge flows: Examining their relationship with impact at the field level over time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:19:y:2025:i:1:s1751157724001263
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2024.101614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157724001263
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.joi.2024.101614?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yan, Erjia & Ding, Ying & Cronin, Blaise & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2013. "A bird's-eye view of scientific trading: Dependency relations among fields of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 249-264.
    2. Josh Angrist & Pierre Azoulay & Glenn Ellison & Ryan Hill & Susan Feng Lu, 2020. "Inside Job or Deep Impact? Extramural Citations and the Influence of Economic Scholarship," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 3-52, March.
    3. Jian Wang & Bart Thijs & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2015. "Interdisciplinarity and Impact: Distinct Effects of Variety, Balance, and Disparity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Hur, Wonchang, 2024. "Entropy, heterogeneity, and their impact on technology progress," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    5. Erjia Yan, 2016. "Disciplinary knowledge production and diffusion in science," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(9), pages 2223-2245, September.
    6. Alexandre Truc & Olivier Santerre & Yves Gingras & François Claveau, 2023. "The interdisciplinarity of economics," Post-Print hal-04719259, HAL.
    7. Kevin W. Boyack & Richard Klavans & Katy Börner, 2005. "Mapping the backbone of science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 64(3), pages 351-374, August.
    8. Richard Van Noorden, 2015. "Interdisciplinary research by the numbers," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7569), pages 306-307, September.
    9. Andrew R. Tilman & Joshua B. Plotkin & Erol Akçay, 2020. "Evolutionary games with environmental feedbacks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Arthur, W. Brian, 2007. "The structure of invention," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 274-287, March.
    11. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "The Superiority of Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 89-114, Winter.
    12. Leydesdorff, Loet & Rafols, Ismael, 2011. "Indicators of the interdisciplinarity of journals: Diversity, centrality, and citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 87-100.
    13. Jonathan M. Levitt & Mike Thelwall & Charles Oppenheim, 2011. "Variations between subjects in the extent to which the social sciences have become more interdisciplinary," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(6), pages 1118-1129, June.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/67ft27s7u58ocangahl1jigu6p is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "La superioridad de los economistas," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 17(33), pages 13-43, July-Dece.
    16. M. Fourcade & E. Ollion & Y. Algan., 2015. "The Superiority of Economists," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 7.
    17. 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.
    18. Christine L. Borgman & Ronald E. Rice, 1992. "The convergence of information science and communication: A bibliometric analysis," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 43(6), pages 397-411, July.
    19. repec:nos:voprec:y:2015:id:94 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Nemet, Gregory F. & Johnson, Evan, 2012. "Do important inventions benefit from knowledge originating in other technological domains?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 190-200.
    21. Jonathan M. Levitt & Mike Thelwall & Charles Oppenheim, 2011. "Variations between subjects in the extent to which the social sciences have become more interdisciplinary," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(6), pages 1118-1129, June.
    22. Thed van Leeuwen & Robert Tijssen, 2000. "Interdisciplinary dynamics of modern science: analysis of cross-disciplinary citation flows," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 183-187, December.
    23. Yongjun Zhu & Erjia Yan, 2015. "Dynamic subfield analysis of disciplines: an examination of the trading impact and knowledge diffusion patterns of computer science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 335-359, July.
    24. Abramo, Giovanni & Cicero, Tindaro & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2012. "Revisiting the scaling of citations for research assessment," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 470-479.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wu, Renli & Chen, Ruiyang & An, Lu & Chen, Chuanfu, 2025. "Tracing the evolution of library and information science through three anchored dimensions: Library, people, and algorithm," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yan, Erjia & Ding, Ying & Cronin, Blaise & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2013. "A bird's-eye view of scientific trading: Dependency relations among fields of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 249-264.
    2. Alexandre Truc, 2025. "The Disciplinary Mobility of Core Behavioral Economists [La mobilité disciplinaire des chercheurs au cœur de l’économie comportementale]," Post-Print hal-05543132, HAL.
    3. Alberto Baccini & Lucio Barabesi & Carlo Debernardi, 2025. "Exploring the Shape of Economics: A Multilayer Network Analysis of Social Communities and Intellectual Similarity Among Journals Before and After the 2008 Financial Crisis," Papers 2508.09079, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    4. Yongjun Zhu & Erjia Yan, 2015. "Dynamic subfield analysis of disciplines: an examination of the trading impact and knowledge diffusion patterns of computer science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 335-359, July.
    5. Sándor Soós & Zsófia Vida & András Schubert, 2018. "Long-term trends in the multidisciplinarity of some typical natural and social sciences, and its implications on the SSH versus STM distinction," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(3), pages 795-822, March.
    6. Alexandre Truc & Olivier Santerre & Yves Gingras & François Claveau, 2023. "The interdisciplinarity of economics," Post-Print hal-04719259, HAL.
    7. Hongyu Zhou & Raf Guns & Tim C. E. Engels, 2022. "Are social sciences becoming more interdisciplinary? Evidence from publications 1960–2014," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(9), pages 1201-1221, September.
    8. Chen, Shiji & Arsenault, Clément & Larivière, Vincent, 2015. "Are top-cited papers more interdisciplinary?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 1034-1046.
    9. Shiji Chen & Clément Arsenault & Yves Gingras & Vincent Larivière, 2015. "Exploring the interdisciplinary evolution of a discipline: the case of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(2), pages 1307-1323, February.
    10. Lina Xu & Steven Dellaportas & Zhiqiang Yang & Jin Wang, 2023. "More on the relationship between interdisciplinary accounting research and citation impact," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4779-4803, December.
    11. John McLevey & Alexander V. Graham & Reid McIlroy-Young & Pierson Browne & Kathryn S. Plaisance, 2018. "Interdisciplinarity and insularity in the diffusion of knowledge: an analysis of disciplinary boundaries between philosophy of science and the sciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(1), pages 331-349, October.
    12. Xin Liu & Yi Bu & Ming Li & Jiang Li, 2024. "Monodisciplinary collaboration disrupts science more than multidisciplinary collaboration," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 75(1), pages 59-78, January.
    13. Michelle Monique Meixieira Groenewald & Caro Carl Janse van Rensburg, 2025. "Toward Decolonizing and Feminist Pedagogies in Transforming Economics Classrooms," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 610-630, September.
    14. Lina Xu & Steven Dellaportas & Jin Wang, 2022. "A study of interdisciplinary accounting research: analysing the diversity of cited references," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2131-2162, June.
    15. Oded Shenkar, 2025. "Towards interdisciplinarity in international business: national culture as an example," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 56(5), pages 559-566, July.
    16. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2023. "Is economic history changing its nature? Evidence from top journals," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 17(1), pages 23-48, January.
    17. Shunshun Shi & Wenyu Zhang & Shuai Zhang & Jie Chen, 2018. "Does prestige dimension influence the interdisciplinary performance of scientific entities in knowledge flow? Evidence from the e-government field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(2), pages 1237-1264, November.
    18. Ruimin Ma & Erjia Yan, 2016. "Uncovering inter-specialty knowledge communication using author citation networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 839-854, November.
    19. Giulio Giacomo Cantone, 2024. "How to measure interdisciplinary research? A systemic design for the model of measurement," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(8), pages 4937-4982, August.
    20. Chiara Carusi & Giuseppe Bianchi, 2020. "A look at interdisciplinarity using bipartite scholar/journal networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 867-894, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:19:y:2025:i:1:s1751157724001263. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joi .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.