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Interdisciplinarity and research on local issues: evidence from a developing country

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  • Diego Chavarro
  • Puay Tang
  • Ismael Rafols

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between interdisciplinarity and research pertaining to local issues. Using Colombian publications from 1991 until 2011 in the Web of Science, we investigate the relationship between the degree of interdisciplinarity and the local orientation of the articles. We find that a higher degree of interdisciplinarity in a publication is associated with a greater emphasis on Colombian issues. In particular, our results suggest that research that combines cognitively disparate disciplines, what we refer to as distal interdisciplinarity, tends to be associated with more local focus of research. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of policies aiming to foster the local socio-economic impact of research in developing countries.

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  • Diego Chavarro & Puay Tang & Ismael Rafols, 2014. "Interdisciplinarity and research on local issues: evidence from a developing country," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 195-209.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:23:y:2014:i:3:p:195-209.
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    3. Ayoubi, Charles & Pezzoni, Michele & Visentin, Fabiana, 2019. "The important thing is not to win, it is to take part: What if scientists benefit from participating in research grant competitions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 84-97.
    4. 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.
    5. Liang Hu & Win-bin Huang & Yi Bu, 2024. "Interdisciplinary research attracts greater attention from policy documents: evidence from COVID-19," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Soleidy Rivero Amador & Maidelyn Díaz Pérez & María José López-Huertas & Reinaldo Javier Rodríguez Font, 2018. "Indicator system for managing science, technology and innovation in universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(3), pages 1575-1587, June.
    7. Jorge Mannana-Rodriguez & Elea Giménez-Toledo, 2018. "Specialization and multidisciplinarity of scholarly book publishers: differences between Spanish University Presses and other scholarly publishers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(1), pages 19-30, January.
    8. Oscar Llopis & Mabel Sánchez-Barrioluengo & Julia Olmos-Peñuela & Elena Castro-Martínez, 2018. "Scientists’ engagement in knowledge transfer and exchange: Individual factors, variety of mechanisms and users," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 45(6), pages 790-803.
    9. Jonathan P. Tennant & Harry Crane & Tom Crick & Jacinto Davila & Asura Enkhbayar & Johanna Havemann & Bianca Kramer & Ryan Martin & Paola Masuzzo & Andy Nobes & Curt Rice & Bárbara Rivera-López & Tony, 2019. "Ten Hot Topics around Scholarly Publishing," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-24, May.
    10. Seokbeom Kwon & Alan Porter & Jan Youtie, 2016. "Navigating the innovation trajectories of technology by combining specialization score analyses for publications and patents: graphene and nano-enabled drug delivery," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 1057-1071, March.
    11. Tomaz Bartol & Gordana Budimir & Primoz Juznic & Karmen Stopar, 2016. "Mapping and classification of agriculture in Web of Science: other subject categories and research fields may benefit," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 979-996, November.
    12. Chavarro, Diego & Tang, Puay & Ràfols, Ismael, 2017. "Why researchers publish in non-mainstream journals: Training, knowledge bridging, and gap filling," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1666-1680.
    13. Gregory N. Price & Rhonda V. Sharpe, 2020. "Is the Economics Knowledge Production Function Constrained by Race in the USA?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(2), pages 614-629, June.
    14. Jorge Mañana Rodríguez, 2017. "Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in citation and reference dimensions: knowledge importation and exportation taxonomy of journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 617-642, February.

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