Universities’ structural commitment to interdisciplinary research

In recent years, science policy experts have been promoting interdisciplinary research (IDR) in order to foster innovation and address grand scientific challenges. But to date we know little about whether, how, and to what extent universities are committed to fostering this type of research. This pa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientometrics 2019-03, Vol.118 (3), p.891-919
Main Authors: Leahey, Erin, Barringer, Sondra N., Ring-Ramirez, Misty
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colleges & universities
Computer Science
Factor analysis
Information Storage and Retrieval
Innovations
Interdisciplinary aspects
Interdisciplinary research
Interdisciplinary studies
Learning algorithms
Library Science
Machine learning
Research facilities
Research programs
Science policy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In recent years, science policy experts have been promoting interdisciplinary research (IDR) in order to foster innovation and address grand scientific challenges. But to date we know little about whether, how, and to what extent universities are committed to fostering this type of research. This paper develops the first measure of university commitment to IDR, which relies on the organizational structuring of research activity into research centers and departments. We extend the previous literature by measuring, rather than assuming, the interdisciplinary nature of research units. Using a large amount of textual data from 157 research universities in the United States, and combining machine learning and confirmatory factor analysis techniques, we develop a continuous and composite measure that taps universities’ structural commitment to IDR. We then examine the commitment exhibited by specific universities and how such commitment varies by university characteristics like size, resources, and region. Results show that the fraction of centers and departments that are interdisciplinary is critical to measuring a university’s structural commitment to IDR and to developing specific research policies aimed at fostering IDR.
ISSN:0138-9130
1588-2861
DOI:10.1007/s11192-018-2992-3