What is it about?
Interdisciplinary research is becoming more and more important in all scientific fields. But the current organisation of science imposes great barriers to interdisciplinary investigations. We surveyed of 96 scientists at WPI-iCeMS, an interdisciplinary-oriented university research center of Kyoto University, finding that less than one-third prioritises interdisciplinary research.
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Why is it important?
Not only policymakers, but also scientists do like interdisciplinary research. But scientists often think that the greater effort to collaborate with colleagues from other disciplines or to become expert in different fields, are not justified because scientific communities do not appreciate interdisciplinary work. Post-docs feel pressure to publish, and therefore are reluctant to undertake interdisciplinary investigations.
Perspectives
An implication of the lower propensity to interdisciplinary research of post-docs, is that the scientific system may lack the capabilities that are expected to be more crucial in the next years. To close the gap between societal expectations and actual behavior of scientists, research organisations should consider adopting multidimensional evaluation systems capturing scientists’ activity, and not only academic outcomes
Giancarlo Lauto
Universita degli Studi di Udine
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Perceived incentives to transdisciplinarity in a Japanese university research center, Futures, January 2015, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.futures.2014.10.010.
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