Research interdisciplinarity: STEM versus non-STEM

Research collaboration among interdisciplinary teams has become a common trend in recent days. However, there is a lack of evidence in literature regarding which disciplines play dominant roles in interdisciplinary research settings. It is also unclear whether the dominant role of disciplines vary between STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and non-STEM focused research. This study considers metadata of the research projects funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Project scheme. Applying network analytics, this study investigates the contribution of individual disciplines in the successfully funded projects. It is noted that the disciplines Engineering, Biological Sciences and Technology appear as the principal disciplines in interdisciplinary research having a STEM focus. By contrast, non-STEM interdisciplinary research is led by three disciplines—Studies in Human Societies, Language, Communication and Culture, and History and Archaeology. For projects entailing interdisciplinarity between STEM and non-STEM disciplines, the STEM discipline of Medical and Health Sciences and the non-STEM disciplines of Psychology and Cognitive Science and Studies in Human Societies appear as the leading contributors. Overall, the network-based visualisation reveals that research interdisciplinarity is implemented in a heterogeneous way across STEM and non-STEM disciplines, and there are gaps in inter-disciplinary collaborations among some disciplines.