A bird's-eye view of scientific trading: Dependency relations among fields of science

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework using a trading metaphor to analyze knowledge transfer among scientific disciplines, revealing key exporter and importer roles and the impact of self-dependence across fields.

Contribution

It develops a comprehensive four-dimensional framework to study scientific knowledge exchange and applies it to a large dataset of Web of Science categories, uncovering new insights.

Findings

Materials Science and Transportation Science have increased trading impact.

Biomedical, Physics, and Mathematics are major knowledge exporters.

Social sciences like Economics and Psychology are also key exporters.

Abstract

We use a trading metaphor to study knowledge transfer in the sciences as well as the social sciences. The metaphor comprises four dimensions: (a) Discipline Self-dependence, (b) Knowledge Exports/Imports, (c) Scientific Trading Dynamics, and (d) Scientific Trading Impact. This framework is applied to a dataset of 221 Web of Science subject categories. We find that: (i) the Scientific Trading Impact and Dynamics of Materials Science And Transportation Science have increased; (ii) Biomedical Disciplines, Physics, And Mathematics are significant knowledge exporters, as is Statistics & Probability; (iii) in the social sciences, Economics, Business, Psychology, Management, And Sociology are important knowledge exporters; (iv) Discipline Self-dependence is associated with specialized domains which have ties to professional practice (e.g., Law, Ophthalmology, Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine, Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Veterinary Sciences, And Nursing).