3 European Studies as an interdisciplinary research field? A comprehensive empirical analysis of interdisciplinarity in European Studies
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Monika de Silva
Abstract
How interdisciplinary is European Studies? In this chapter, we assess the state of interdisciplinarity in European Studies through a comprehensive empirical examination of the scope, content, type, and success of research articles published within the field. Our mixed-methods approach incorporates both quantitative analyses of large datasets and qualitative assessments of a substantive body of research output. We start by surveying the abstracts of papers published in European Studies journals for self-proclaimed interdisciplinarity. Overall, we find only just over 1% of research to be interdisciplinary by self-proclamation. Yet, we also note an encouraging increase over time. We then examine the extent and success of interdisciplinary collaborations by analysing citation counts of articles published between 2016 and 2020 in two notable European Studies journals. We find that over 9% of articles are the result of collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. We also conceptualise different types of interdisciplinarity and study their empirical prevalence and implementation. A more detailed look reveals that interdisciplinarity may be more widespread than authors proclaim themselves, amounting to 16% of examined articles. Not only do European Studies scholars collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, but in single-authored work we also discover many examples of different types of interdisciplinarity. Encouragingly, we find no evidence that this interdisciplinary work receives fewer citations than scholarship confined to disciplinary boundaries. Building on this, we offer some tools and best-practice examples of how to bring interdisciplinarity into one’s scholarship.
Abstract
How interdisciplinary is European Studies? In this chapter, we assess the state of interdisciplinarity in European Studies through a comprehensive empirical examination of the scope, content, type, and success of research articles published within the field. Our mixed-methods approach incorporates both quantitative analyses of large datasets and qualitative assessments of a substantive body of research output. We start by surveying the abstracts of papers published in European Studies journals for self-proclaimed interdisciplinarity. Overall, we find only just over 1% of research to be interdisciplinary by self-proclamation. Yet, we also note an encouraging increase over time. We then examine the extent and success of interdisciplinary collaborations by analysing citation counts of articles published between 2016 and 2020 in two notable European Studies journals. We find that over 9% of articles are the result of collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. We also conceptualise different types of interdisciplinarity and study their empirical prevalence and implementation. A more detailed look reveals that interdisciplinarity may be more widespread than authors proclaim themselves, amounting to 16% of examined articles. Not only do European Studies scholars collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, but in single-authored work we also discover many examples of different types of interdisciplinarity. Encouragingly, we find no evidence that this interdisciplinary work receives fewer citations than scholarship confined to disciplinary boundaries. Building on this, we offer some tools and best-practice examples of how to bring interdisciplinarity into one’s scholarship.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- About this book V
- Table of Contents VII
- List of Authors IX
- Towards non-unidisciplinary European Studies 1
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Part I: Thinking about the “How’s” and “Why’s” of Non-unidisciplinary European Studies
- 1 What is European Studies? 17
- 2 A conceptual guide to non-unidisciplinary research in European Studies 35
- 3 European Studies as an interdisciplinary research field? A comprehensive empirical analysis of interdisciplinarity in European Studies 61
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Part II: Doing Non-unidisciplinary European Studies
- 4 Eating at the border. Gastronomy, regional identity and the Alsatian dialect 83
- 5 Ernesto Dethorey, a cultural mediator from the exile. Journalism, translation and networking 107
- 6 Exploring the potential of comics-based research: Concepts, examples and considerations 127
- 7 European research at the University of Gothenburg: Multi- and interdisciplinarity 157
- Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- About this book V
- Table of Contents VII
- List of Authors IX
- Towards non-unidisciplinary European Studies 1
-
Part I: Thinking about the “How’s” and “Why’s” of Non-unidisciplinary European Studies
- 1 What is European Studies? 17
- 2 A conceptual guide to non-unidisciplinary research in European Studies 35
- 3 European Studies as an interdisciplinary research field? A comprehensive empirical analysis of interdisciplinarity in European Studies 61
-
Part II: Doing Non-unidisciplinary European Studies
- 4 Eating at the border. Gastronomy, regional identity and the Alsatian dialect 83
- 5 Ernesto Dethorey, a cultural mediator from the exile. Journalism, translation and networking 107
- 6 Exploring the potential of comics-based research: Concepts, examples and considerations 127
- 7 European research at the University of Gothenburg: Multi- and interdisciplinarity 157
- Index
