Prominent but Less Productive: The Impact of Interdisciplinarity on Scientists' Research

Inter-disciplinary research (IDR) is being promoted by federal agencies and universities nationwide because it presumably spurs transformative, innovative science. In this paper we bring empirical data to assess whether IDR is indeed beneficial, and whether costs accompany potential benefits.

[1]  Denis Trapido,et al.  How novelty in knowledge earns recognition: The role of consistent identities , 2015 .

[2]  Freda B. Lynn.  Diffusing through Disciplines: Insiders, Outsiders, and Socially Influenced Citation Behavior , 2014 .

[3]  Erin E Leahey,et al.  Sociological Innovation through Subfield Integration , 2014 .

[4]  A. Sharkey,et al.  The Paradox of Publicity , 2014 .

[5]  Benjamin F. Jones,et al.  Atypical Combinations and Scientific Impact , 2013, Science.

[6]  J. Gans,et al.  Credit History: The Changing Nature of Scientific Credit , 2013 .

[7]  Barbara F. Walter,et al.  The Gender Citation Gap in International Relations , 2013, International Organization.

[8]  Giacomo Negro,et al.  "Actual" and Perceptual Effects of Category Spanning , 2013, Organ. Sci..

[9]  Lars Frederiksen,et al.  The Core and Cosmopolitans: A Relational View of Innovation in User Communities , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[10]  Elizabeth G. Pontikes.  Two Sides of the Same Coin , 2012 .

[11]  Ismael Rafols,et al.  How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: A comparison between Innovation Stud , 2012 .

[12]  Damon J. Phillips.  Jazz and the Disconnected: City Structural Disconnectedness and the Emergence of a Jazz Canon, 1897–19331 , 2011, American Journal of Sociology.

[13]  M. Hannan,et al.  Category Spanning, Distance, and Appeal , 2011 .

[14]  Melissa A. Schilling,et al.  Recombinant Search and Breakthrough Idea Generation: An Analysis of High Impact Papers in the Social Sciences , 2011 .

[15]  F. J. Rijnsoever,et al.  Factors associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaboration , 2011 .

[16]  H. Rao,et al.  Categorical contrast and audience appeal: niche width and critical success in winemaking , 2010 .

[17]  Fiona E. Murray.  The Oncomouse That Roared: Hybrid Exchange Strategies as a Source of Distinction at the Boundary of Overlapping Institutions1 , 2010, American Journal of Sociology.

[18]  P. Boardman,et al.  Influencing scientists’ collaboration and productivity patterns through new institutions: University research centers and scientific and technical human capital☆ , 2010 .

[19]  Siobhan O’Mahony,et al.  Nexus Work: Brokerage on Creative Projects , 2010 .

[20]  Vincent Larivière,et al.  On the relationship between interdisciplinarity and scientific impact , 2009, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[21]  Jasjit Singh,et al.  Lone Inventors as Source of Breakthroughs: Myth or Reality? , 2009, Manag. Sci..

[22]  Gianluca Carnabuci,et al.  Knowledge Specialization, Knowledge Brokerage and the Uneven Growth of Technology Domains , 2009 .

[23]  Lada A. Adamic,et al.  The Impact of Boundary Spanning Scholarly Publications and Patents , 2009, PloS one.

[24]  J. Jacobs,et al.  Interdisciplinarity: A Critical Assessment , 2009 .

[25]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  Multiple Category Memberships in Markets: An Integrative Theory and Two Empirical Tests , 2009 .

[26]  Ismael Rafols,et al.  Diversity and network coherence as indicators of interdisciplinarity: case studies in bionanoscience , 2009, Scientometrics.

[27]  Michèle Lamont,et al.  How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment , 2009 .

[28]  Ismael Rafols,et al.  Is science becoming more interdisciplinary? Measuring and mapping six research fields over time , 2009, Scientometrics.

[29]  André Blais,et al.  What Does it Take for a Canadian Political Scientist to be Cited , 2008 .

[30]  James A. Evans.  Electronic Publication and the Narrowing of Science and Scholarship , 2008, Science.

[31]  Creso M. Sá,et al.  ‘Interdisciplinary strategies’ in U.S. research universities , 2008 .

[32]  D. Harrison,et al.  What's the difference? Diversity constructs as separation, variety, or disparity in organizations. , 2007 .

[33]  L. Fleming,et al.  Collaborative Brokerage, Generative Creativity, and Creative Success , 2007 .

[34]  Craig Boardman,et al.  Role Strain in University Research Centers , 2007 .

[35]  Alan L. Porter,et al.  Measuring researcher interdisciplinarity , 2007, Scientometrics.

[36]  Benjamin F. Jones,et al.  Supporting Online Material Materials and Methods Figs. S1 to S3 References the Increasing Dominance of Teams in Production of Knowledge , 2022 .

[37]  David M. Waguespack,et al.  Penguins, Camels, and Other Birds of a Feather: Brokerage, Boundary Spanning, and Leadership in Open Innovation Communities , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[38]  Stephanie Pfirman,et al.  Women in interdisciplinary science: Exploring preferences and consequences , 2007 .

[39]  Wesley Shrum,et al.  Structures of scientific collaboration , 2007 .

[40]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies , 2007 .

[41]  E. Leahey,et al.  Gender Differences in Productivity , 2006 .

[42]  Christine M. Beckman.  The Influence of Founding Team Company Affiliations on Firm Behavior , 2006 .

[43]  Veronica Mansilla.  Assessing expert interdisciplinary work at the frontier: an empirical exploration , 2006 .

[44]  M. Lamont,et al.  Beyond blind faith: overcoming the obstacles to interdisciplinary evaluation , 2006 .

[45]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  Typecasting and Generalism in Firm and Market: Genre-Based Career Concentration in the Feature Film Industry, 1933–1995 , 2005 .

[46]  Jonathon N. Cummings,et al.  Collaborative Research Across Disciplinary and Organizational Boundaries , 2005 .

[47]  Greta Hsu.  EVALUATIVE SCHEMAS AND THE ATTENTION OF CRITICS IN THE U.S. FILM INDUSTRY. , 2005 .

[48]  Michel Zitt,et al.  Relativity of citation performance and excellence measures: From cross-field to cross-scale effects of field-normalisation , 2005, Scientometrics.

[49]  T. D. N. Thi,et al.  Why do academic scientists engage in interdisciplinary research , 2005 .

[50]  S. Brint.  Creating the Future: ‘New Directions’ in American Research Universities , 2005 .

[51]  Hendrik P. van Dalen,et al.  Wage Structure and the Incentive Effect of Promotions , 2004 .

[52]  D. Rhoten,et al.  Risks and Rewards of an Interdisciplinary Research Path , 2004, Science.

[53]  R. Burt.  Structural Holes and Good Ideas1 , 2004, American Journal of Sociology.

[54]  Tibor Braun,et al.  A quantitative view on the coming of age of interdisciplinarity in the sciences 1980-1999 , 2003, Scientometrics.

[55]  Thed N. van Leeuwen,et al.  Impact measures of interdisciplinary research in physics , 2002, Scientometrics.

[56]  W. Powell,et al.  The expanding role of university patenting in the life sciences: assessing the importance of experience and connectivity , 2003 .

[57]  Debra Branch McBrier.  Gender and Career Dynamics within a Segmented Professional Labor Market: The Case of Law Academia , 2003 .

[58]  Lori Rosenkopf,et al.  Overcoming Local Search Through Alliances and Mobility , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[59]  J. Najman,et al.  The validity of publication and citation counts for Sociology and other selected disciplines , 2003 .

[60]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  Robust Identities or Nonentities? Typecasting in the Feature‐Film Labor Market1 , 2003, American Journal of Sociology.

[61]  Pamela R. Haunschild,et al.  Network Learning: The Effects of Partners' Heterogeneity of Experience on Corporate Acquisitions , 2002 .

[62]  Andrew B. Hargadon.  Brokering knowledge: Linking learning and innovation , 2002 .

[63]  Damon J. Phillips,et al.  Middle‐Status Conformity: Theoretical Restatement and Empirical Demonstration in Two Markets1 , 2001, American Journal of Sociology.

[64]  M. McPherson,et al.  Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks , 2001 .

[65]  María Bordons,et al.  Interdisciplinarity as a multidimensional concept: its measure in three different research areas , 2001 .

[66]  M. McPherson,et al.  BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Homophily , 2001 .

[67]  A. Abbott.  Chaos of disciplines , 2001 .

[68]  Lee Fleming,et al.  Special Issue on Design and Development: Recombinant Uncertainty in Technological Search , 2001, Manag. Sci..

[69]  Martin L. Weitzman,et al.  Pricing the Limits to Growth from Minerals Depletion , 1999 .

[70]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Exploring the Black Box: An Analysis of Work Group Diversity, Conflict and Performance , 1999 .

[71]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  The Categorical Imperative: Securities Analysts and the Illegitimacy Discount , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[72]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[73]  W. Powell,et al.  Careers in Print: Books, Journals, and Scholarly Reputations , 1995, American Journal of Sociology.

[74]  Raymond D. Sauer,et al.  Estimates of the Returns to Quality and Coauthorship in Economic Academia , 1988, Journal of Political Economy.

[75]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Science in action : how to follow scientists and engineers through society , 1989 .

[76]  J. S. Long,et al.  Interuniversity Mobility of Academic Scientists. , 1987 .

[77]  M. Ferber,et al.  Citations: Are They an Objective Measure of Scholarly Merit? , 1986, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.

[78]  A. Diamond.  What is a Citation Worth , 1986 .

[79]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Concentration and Specialization: Dynamics of Niche Width in Populations of Organizations , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[80]  Michael T. Hannan,et al.  Niche Width and the Dynamics of Organizational Populations , 1983, American Journal of Sociology.

[81]  Philip H. Birnbaum,et al.  Integration and Specialization in Academic Research , 1981 .

[82]  Robert K. Merton,et al.  The Sociology of Science: An Episodic Memoir , 1979 .

[83]  K. Weick.  The social psychology of organizing , 1969 .

[84]  T. W. Anderson.  Maximum Likelihood Estimates for a Multivariate Normal Distribution when Some Observations are Missing , 1957 .

[85]  J. Schumpeter,et al.  The Theory of Economic Development , 2017 .