Interdisciplinarity at the journal and specialty level: The changing knowledge bases of the journal cognitive science

• Published in: Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 164 - 177
• Main Authors: Leydesdorff, Loet, Goldstone, Robert L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2014; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Animation; Artificial intelligence; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics. Evaluation; Cognition; Cognitive psychology; Cognitive science; Comparative analysis; Delineation; Discriminant analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Expert systems; Factor analysis; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Interdisciplinary Approach; Interdisciplinary aspects; Interdisciplinary subjects; Knowledge bases (artificial intelligence); knowledge representation; Library and information science. General aspects; Psychology; Referencing; Scholarly publishing; Sciences and techniques of general use; Studies; Subject fields; Tubes; Visualization; Factor analysis; Follow up study; Periodical; Interdisciplinary field
• DOI: 10.1002/asi.22953
• ISSN: 2330-1635; 1532-2882

Using the referencing patterns in articles in Cognitive Science over three decades, we analyze the knowledge base of this literature in terms of its changing disciplinary composition. Three periods are distinguished: (A) construction of the interdisciplinary space in the 1980s, (B) development of an interdisciplinary orientation in the 1990s, and (C) reintegration into “cognitive psychology” in the 2000s. The fluidity and fuzziness of the interdisciplinary delineations in the different visualizations can be reduced and clarified using factor analysis. We also explore newly available routines (“CorText”) to analyze this development in terms of “tubes” using an alluvial map and compare the results with an animation (using “Visone”). The historical specificity of this development can be compared with the development of “artificial intelligence” into an integrated specialty during this same period. Interdisciplinarity should be defined differently at the level of journals and of specialties.