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Slow convergence: Career impediments to interdisciplinary biomedical research.
Enrico Berkes1, Monica Marion2, Staša Milojević2
1Department of Economics, The University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250.
Summary
Interdisciplinary research is impactful but hinders early careers, causing researchers to publish less and reduce collaboration over time. This trend limits the growth of interdisciplinary science despite its societal benefits.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Sciences
- Sociology of Science
Background:
- Interdisciplinary research is encouraged for addressing complex societal challenges.
- Despite this, scientific fields remain largely disciplinary.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reasons behind the slow adoption of interdisciplinary research.
- To analyze the career trajectories and impact of interdisciplinary researchers.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of publication data for 154,021 biomedical PhD recipients (1970-2013).
- Measurement of research interdisciplinarity based on the disciplinary composition of article references.
Main Results:
- Interdisciplinary research is impactful but presents early career challenges.
- Highly interdisciplinary researchers have shorter publishing careers (8 years vs. 20+ years).
- Initially interdisciplinary researchers tend to decrease their interdisciplinarity over time, potentially due to career impediments.
Conclusions:
- Early career impediments for interdisciplinary scientists reduce the pool of experienced researchers.
- This leads to new graduates being less interdisciplinary than active researchers.
- Despite these challenges, overall interdisciplinarity increases as disciplinary researchers become more interdisciplinary over their careers.
