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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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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/reseval/rvu012
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    6. 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.
    7. 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.
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    9. 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.
    10. 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.
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    13. 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.
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