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Evolving interdisciplinary contributions to global societal challenges: A 50-year overview

Keisuke Okamura

TL;DR

The study addresses how interdisciplinary contributions to global societal challenges have evolved over five decades by analyzing OpenAlex bibliometric data for 19 disciplines and 17 SDGs from 1970 to 2022. It introduces field-affinity and SDG-affinity scores and derives an interdisciplinarity index based on Jaccard field distances and citation-weighted contributions, enabling a longitudinal view of cross-field engagement. The results reveal a notable increase in interdisciplinarity since the 2000s, with MDG-era dynamics driving convergence in many fields, yet SDG-specific trajectories show pronounced asymmetries (e.g., SDG3 dominated by Medicine, SDG13 high diversity, SDG7 shifting toward Materials Science). The findings offer practical guidance for policy and funding, suggesting targeted interdisciplinary programs, cross-border collaboration, and enhanced data infrastructure to translate growing interdisciplinarity into effective action for sustainable development, while acknowledging dataset and classification limitations.

Abstract

Addressing global societal challenges necessitates insights and expertise that transcend the boundaries of individual disciplines. In recent decades, interdisciplinary collaboration has been recognised as a vital driver of innovation and effective problem-solving, with the potential to profoundly influence policy and practice worldwide. However, quantitative evidence remains limited regarding how cross-disciplinary efforts contribute to societal challenges, as well as the evolving roles and relevance of specific disciplines in addressing these issues. To fill this gap, this study examines the long-term evolution of interdisciplinary contributions to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), drawing on extensive bibliometric data from OpenAlex. By analysing publication and citation trends across 19 research fields from 1970 to 2022, we reveal how the relative presence of different disciplines in addressing particular SDGs has shifted over time. Our results also provide unique evidence of the increasing interconnection between fields since the 2000s, coinciding with the United Nations' initiative to tackle global societal challenges through interdisciplinary efforts. These insights will benefit policymakers and practitioners as they reflect on past progress and plan for future action, particularly with the SDG target deadline approaching in the next five years.

Evolving interdisciplinary contributions to global societal challenges: A 50-year overview

TL;DR

The study addresses how interdisciplinary contributions to global societal challenges have evolved over five decades by analyzing OpenAlex bibliometric data for 19 disciplines and 17 SDGs from 1970 to 2022. It introduces field-affinity and SDG-affinity scores and derives an interdisciplinarity index based on Jaccard field distances and citation-weighted contributions, enabling a longitudinal view of cross-field engagement. The results reveal a notable increase in interdisciplinarity since the 2000s, with MDG-era dynamics driving convergence in many fields, yet SDG-specific trajectories show pronounced asymmetries (e.g., SDG3 dominated by Medicine, SDG13 high diversity, SDG7 shifting toward Materials Science). The findings offer practical guidance for policy and funding, suggesting targeted interdisciplinary programs, cross-border collaboration, and enhanced data infrastructure to translate growing interdisciplinarity into effective action for sustainable development, while acknowledging dataset and classification limitations.

Abstract

Addressing global societal challenges necessitates insights and expertise that transcend the boundaries of individual disciplines. In recent decades, interdisciplinary collaboration has been recognised as a vital driver of innovation and effective problem-solving, with the potential to profoundly influence policy and practice worldwide. However, quantitative evidence remains limited regarding how cross-disciplinary efforts contribute to societal challenges, as well as the evolving roles and relevance of specific disciplines in addressing these issues. To fill this gap, this study examines the long-term evolution of interdisciplinary contributions to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), drawing on extensive bibliometric data from OpenAlex. By analysing publication and citation trends across 19 research fields from 1970 to 2022, we reveal how the relative presence of different disciplines in addressing particular SDGs has shifted over time. Our results also provide unique evidence of the increasing interconnection between fields since the 2000s, coinciding with the United Nations' initiative to tackle global societal challenges through interdisciplinary efforts. These insights will benefit policymakers and practitioners as they reflect on past progress and plan for future action, particularly with the SDG target deadline approaching in the next five years.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 13 sections, 5 equations, 4 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction: Interdisciplinary efforts for global societal challenges
  2. Methods: Tracing interdisciplinary contributions to SDGs via bibliometrics
  3. The OpenAlex data
  4. The field-affinity score
  5. The SDG-affinity score
  6. Results and discussion: The shifting nexus of SDGs and disciplines
  7. Disciplinary boundaries: Convergence with or isolation from other fields
  8. Evolution of interdisciplinary contributions across SDGs
  9. Conclusions: Towards evidence-based actions for sustainable development
  10. Acknowledgements.
  11. Competing Interests.
  12. Funding Information.
  13. Data Availability.

Figures (4)

  • Figure 1: The number of publications related to 'interdisciplinarity' by publication year and domain. [Source: OpenAlex]
  • Figure 2: Trends in interdisciplinarity across fields. For each field, a higher interdisciplinarity index score, calculated using Eq. (\ref{['div:A']}), indicates a greater degree of interrelation with other fields. [Source: OpenAlex]
  • Figure 3: Evolution of interdisciplinary contributions across the SDGs. For each SDG, the share of each field is calculated using Eq. (\ref{['ratio:A,m']}). [Source: OpenAlex]
  • Figure 4: Trends in the Interdisciplinarity Index across the SDGs. For each SDG, the interdisciplinarity index is calculated based on its disciplinary composition, as depicted in Figure \ref{['fig:3']}, with appropriate weighting, as well as the distances between fields, which are calculated using Eq. (\ref{['distance:A']}). [Source: OpenAlex]