title: Searching for converging research using field to field citations.
abstract: We define converging research as the emergence of an interdisciplinary research area from fields that did not show interdisciplinary connections before. This paper presents a process to search for converging research using journal subject categories as a proxy for fields and citations to measure interdisciplinary connections, as well as an application of this search. The search consists of two phases: a quantitative phase in which pairs of citing and cited fields are located that show a significant change in number of citations, followed by a qualitative phase in which thematic focus is sought in publications associated with located pairs. Applying this search on publications from the Web of Science published between 1995 and 2005, 38 candidate converging pairs were located, 27 of which showed thematic focus, and 20 also showed a similar focus in the other, reciprocal pair.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 62a, P.O. Box 905, 2300 AX Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Reindert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Buter
authors.forename: Ed C M
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Noyons
authors.forename: Anthony F J
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Van Raan