title: Community structure and the evolution of interdisciplinarity in Slovenia's scientific collaboration network.
abstract: Interaction among the scientific disciplines is of vital importance in modern science. Focusing on the case of Slovenia, we study the dynamics of interdisciplinary sciences from 1960 to 2010. Our approach relies on quantifying the interdisciplinarity of research communities detected in the coauthorship network of Slovenian scientists over time. Examining the evolution of the community structure, we find that the frequency of interdisciplinary research is only proportional with the overall growth of the network. Although marginal improvements in favor of interdisciplinarity are inferable during the 70s and 80s, the overall trends during the past 20 years are constant and indicative of stalemate. We conclude that the flow of knowledge between different fields of research in Slovenia is in need of further stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto, Novo mesto, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Borut
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lužar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto, Novo mesto, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Levnajić
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto, Novo mesto, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Janez
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Povh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Matjaž
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perc
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001319:Authorship; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012586:Science; D017524:Slovenia
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