Exploring the Interdisciplinary Structure of Information and Communication Technologies : A Co-Classification Analysis of Research Proposals

This study explores the interdisciplinary research (IDR) structure of information and communication technology(ICT). Co-classification analysis of research proposals is adopted to measure the relationships between disciplines and fields related to ICT research. We first examine the ICT internal network composed of only ICT fields, and identify ICT research clusters and core ICT fields from the network. To grasp the overall inter-disciplinary structure of ICT, the ICT interdisciplinary network comprising ICT fields and other related fields of various disciplines is then constructed and explored. We also uncover which ICT fields play which types of roles in interacting with other disciplines for IDR through brokerage analysis. The findings of this study can provide useful policy implications for promoting IDR in ICT.