IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v46y1999i3d10.1007_bf02459599.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring interdisciplinary collaboration within a university: The effects of the multidisciplinary research programme

Author

Listed:
  • M. Bordons

    (Centro de Información y Documentación Científica (CINDOC))

  • M. A. Zulueta

    (Universidad de Alcalá)

  • F. Romero

    (Centro de Información y Documentación Científica (CINDOC))

  • S. Barrigón

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Abstract

A Multidisciplinary Research Programme (MRP) is being developed since 1989 in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain, to support cross-disciplinary research projects. This paper analyses the incidence of interdisciplinarity in the UCM scientific publications over the period 1990–96 and tries to determine the success of the Programme at fostering cross-disciplinary research. Interdisciplinary in the UCM is measured through the collaboration of authors from different institutional addresses within the UCM, both in scientific publications and in research projects. Publications jointly signed by the different teams that collaborate in the projects were identified as an indicator of the success of the Programme in integrating disciplines. Interdisciplinary collaboration within the UCM showed an upward trend over time. Publications of MRP groups showed a higher interdisciplinary collaboration rate than the rest of the UCM (17% vs. 9%). Dramatic repercussions of the Programme were not expected due to its limited magnitude, but it worked as a catalyst, enhancing interdisciplinary relations within the UCM. The interest of such a programme is supported by its effects, both direct effects on granted teams and indirect on the whole UCM community.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Bordons & M. A. Zulueta & F. Romero & S. Barrigón, 1999. "Measuring interdisciplinary collaboration within a university: The effects of the multidisciplinary research programme," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 46(3), pages 383-398, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:46:y:1999:i:3:d:10.1007_bf02459599
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02459599
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF02459599
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF02459599?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tijssen, Robert J. W., 1992. "A quantitative assessment of interdisciplinary structures in science and technology: Co-classification analysis of energy research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 27-44, February.
    2. Laura Garwin, 1999. "US universities create bridges between physics and biology," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6714), pages 3-3, January.
    3. Liwen Qiu, 1992. "A study of interdisciplinary research collaboration," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 169-175, December.
    4. Jian Qin & F. W. Lancaster & Bryce Allen, 1997. "Types and levels of collaboration in interdisciplinary research in the sciences," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 48(10), pages 893-916, October.
    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. 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.
    2. Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2011. "Looking across communicative genres: a call for inclusive indicators of interdisciplinarity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 86(2), pages 449-461, February.
    3. Jakobsen, Christine Haugaard & Hels, Tove & McLaughlin, William J., 2004. "Barriers and facilitators to integration among scientists in transdisciplinary landscape analyses: a cross-country comparison," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 15-31, January.
    4. Zhu, Nibing & Liu, Chang & Yang, Zhilin, 2021. "Team Size, Research Variety, and Research Performance: Do Coauthors’ Coauthors Matter?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    5. Zuo, Zhiya & Zhao, Kang, 2018. "The more multidisciplinary the better? – The prevalence and interdisciplinarity of research collaborations in multidisciplinary institutions," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 736-756.
    6. Qing Ke, 2023. "Interdisciplinary research and technological impact: evidence from biomedicine," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2035-2077, April.
    7. van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & Hessels, Laurens K., 2011. "Factors associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 463-472, April.
    8. Lawton, Ricky N. & Rudd, Murray A., 2013. "Crossdisciplinary research contributions to the United Kingdom′s National Ecosystem Assessment," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 149-159.
    9. Yu-Wei Chang, 2018. "Examining interdisciplinarity of library and information science (LIS) based on LIS articles contributed by non-LIS authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1589-1613, September.
    10. 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.
    11. Sinnewe, Elisabeth & Charles, Michael B. & Keast, Robyn, 2016. "Australia's Cooperative Research Centre Program: A transaction cost theory perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 195-204.
    12. Julia Melkers & Fang Xiao, 2012. "Boundary-spanning in emerging technology research: determinants of funding success for academic scientists," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 251-270, June.
    13. Jung Cheol Shin & William K. Cummings, 2010. "Multilevel analysis of academic publishing across disciplines: research preference, collaboration, and time on research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(2), pages 581-594, November.
    14. Chen, Shiji & Arsenault, Clément & Larivière, Vincent, 2015. "Are top-cited papers more interdisciplinary?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 1034-1046.
    15. Jonathan M. Levitt, 2015. "What is the optimal number of researchers for social science research?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 213-225, January.
    16. Sander Zwanenburg & Maryam Nakhoda & Peter Whigham, 2022. "Toward greater consistency and validity in measuring interdisciplinarity: a systematic and conceptual evaluation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7769-7788, December.

    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. Joachim Schummer, 2004. "Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and patterns of research collaboration in nanoscience and nanotechnology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 59(3), pages 425-465, March.
    2. Fernanda Morillo & María Bordons & Isabel Gómez, 2001. "An approach to interdisciplinarity through bibliometric indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 203-222, April.
    3. Francesco Giovanni Avallone & Alberto Quagli & Paola Ramassa, 2022. "Interdisciplinary research by accounting scholars: An exploratory study," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2), pages 5-34.
    4. 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.
    5. Dangzhi Zhao & Elisabeth Logan, 2002. "Citation analysis using scientific publications on the Web as data source: A case study in the XML research area," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 54(3), pages 449-472, July.
    6. 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.
    7. Seongkyoon Jeong & Jong-Chan Kim & Jae Young Choi, 2015. "Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 841-871, September.
    8. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo & Flavia Costa, 2012. "Identifying interdisciplinarity through the disciplinary classification of coauthors of scientific publications," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(11), pages 2206-2222, November.
    9. Zuo, Zhiya & Zhao, Kang, 2018. "The more multidisciplinary the better? – The prevalence and interdisciplinarity of research collaborations in multidisciplinary institutions," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 736-756.
    10. Sungho Son & Nam-Wook Cho, 2020. "Technology Fusion Characteristics in the Solar Photovoltaic Industry of South Korea: A Patent Network Analysis Using IPC Co-Occurrence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-19, October.
    11. van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & Hessels, Laurens K., 2011. "Factors associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 463-472, April.
    12. Ran Xu & Navid Ghaffarzadegan, 2018. "Neuroscience bridging scientific disciplines in health: Who builds the bridge, who pays for it?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(2), pages 1183-1204, November.
    13. van Eck, N.J.P. & Waltman, L., 2009. "How to Normalize Co-Occurrence Data? An Analysis of Some Well-Known Similarity Measures," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-001-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    14. Dellaportas, Steven & Xu, Lina & Yang, Zhiqiang, 2022. "The level of cross-disciplinarity in cross-disciplinary accounting research: analysis and suggestions for improvement," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Youngjung Geum & Moon-Soo Kim & Sungjoo Lee, 2017. "Service Technology: Definition and Characteristics Based on a Patent Database," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 147-166, June.
    16. Ogawa, Takaya & Kajikawa, Yuya, 2015. "Assessing the industrial opportunity of academic research with patent relatedness: A case study on polymer electrolyte fuel cells," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 469-475.
    17. Hiroko Nakamura & Shinji Suzuki & Tomobe Hironori & Yuya Kajikawa & Ichiro Sakata, 2011. "Citation lag analysis in supply chain research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(2), pages 221-232, May.
    18. Dongqing Lyu & Kaile Gong & Xuanmin Ruan & Ying Cheng & Jiang Li, 2021. "Does research collaboration influence the “disruption” of articles? Evidence from neurosciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 287-303, January.
    19. Geisler, E., 1995. "An integrated cost-performance model of research and development evaluation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 281-294, June.
    20. Yu-Wei Chang, 2019. "Are articles in library and information science (LIS) journals primarily contributed to by LIS authors?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 81-104, October.

    More about this item

    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:spr:scient:v:46:y:1999:i:3:d:10.1007_bf02459599. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.