Multidisciplinary research in Spain. A network perspective

Abstract

This contribution presents a network approach to analyse the current situation of multidisciplinary research in Spain. To this aim, all coordinated projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation in the 2013-2018 timeframe have been considered as a proxy for multidisciplinarity. The information on each institution has been complemented with its geographical location (latitude, longitude and autonomous community) as well as with its position according to the Scimago Institutions Rankings. Two networks were built: the network of the interactions between institutions and the network of thematic areas. Topological analyses were conducted on the two. Our results show that the two networks have a clear modular structure, and the role detection analyses conducted on both networks provide relevant insights into the relative importance of the different research institutions and thematic areas respectively.