Appreciating, measuring and incentivising discipline diversity: Meaningful indicators of collaboration in research

Abstract

Inter-disciplinary collaborative research is generally believed to lead to innovative outcomes in areas that may be missed in research studies based in a single discipline. However, currently available research performance indicators, based on scholarly peer-reviewed publications and citations from a single discipline, do little to recognise the merits of collaborative and inter-disciplinary research. This paper presents an empirical study of members of a research unit and their publication and grant profiles. From analysis of this data a set of profile categories emerged together with the relevant indicators which provide a framework from which a deeper understanding of how different research behaviours contribute to the differences in researchers' individual profiles. These profiles could be used to provide a richer environment for the evaluation of research performance, both in terms of outputs and potential funding opportunities, and indicators of 'good research' in inter-disciplinary projects.