Assessing researcher interdisciplinarity: a case study of the University of Hawaii NASA Astrobiology Institute

• Published in: Scientometrics Vol. 94; no. 1; pp. 133 - 161
• Main Authors: Gowanlock, Michael, Gazan, Rich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2013; Springer
• Subjects: Astronomy; Bibliometrics; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics; Bibliometrics. Scientometrics. Evaluation; Biology; Colleges and universities; Computer Science; Exact sciences and technology; Hawaii; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Information Storage and Retrieval; Interdisciplinary subjects; Labels; Library and information science. General aspects; Library Science; Publication output; Research centers; Science policy; Sciences and techniques of general use; United States National aeronautics and space administration; Text mining; Interdisciplinary science; Information bottleneck method; Bibliometrics; Astrobiology; Machine learning; Scientific research; Cluster; Bibliometric analysis; Algorithm; Interdisciplinary field
• ISSN: 0138-9130; 1588-2861
• DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0765-y

In this study, we combine bibliometric techniques with a machine learning algorithm, the sequential information bottleneck, to assess the interdisciplinarity of research produced by the University of Hawaii NASA Astrobiology Institute (UHNAI). In particular, we cluster abstract data to evaluate Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge subject categories as descriptive labels for astrobiology documents, assess individual researcher interdisciplinarity, and determine where collaboration opportunities might occur. We find that the majority of the UHNAI team is engaged in interdisciplinary research, and suggest that our method could be applied to additional NASA Astrobiology Institute teams in particular, or other interdisciplinary research teams more broadly, to identify and facilitate collaboration opportunities.