2021/34 | LEM Working Paper Series | ||||||||||||||||
The interdisciplinarity dilemma: public versus private interests |
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Magda Fontana, Martina Iori, Valerio Leone Sciabolazza and Daniel Souza |
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Keywords | |||||||||||||||||
Interdisciplinarity; Research Policy; Academic Career; Generality; Incentives; Citations.
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JEL Classifications | |||||||||||||||||
I23, H5, 039
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Abstract | |||||||||||||||||
In this paper, we investigate how the choice to conduct interdisciplinary work affects a
researcher’s career. Using data on 23,926 articles published by 6,105 researchers
affiliated with the University of Florida in the period 2008-2013, we show that synthesizing
knowledge from diverse fields pays off in terms of reputation. However, if combining
too-distant research fields, the impact of a work is penalized. Moreover, research
conducted balancing the contribution of different scientific fields has a negative impact on
the reputation of scientists in terms of the number of citations but a positive impact on
the diffusion of knowledge across other disciplines. Our findings are robust to a number
of controls, including individual, time, and field of study fixed effects, and they apply
to all investigators regardless of their gender, collaboration behavior, performance, and
affiliation. All in all, despite its public benefits, interdisciplinary research comes with
a cost for a researcher’s academic career. This trade-off poses challenging questions to
policymakers.
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