An interdiscipline or inter-discipline is a field that involves two or more academic disciplines but which also meets the formal criteria (such as dedicated research journals, conferences and university departments) to be considered a discipline in its own right. A field may be both a discipline and an interdiscipline at the same time, such as demography as explained below. A field may also be regarded as a discipline in some countries but an interdiscipline in other countries, such as information science.
Conceptions Giesecke (1981)Giesecke, Hermann (1981). Indføring i pædagogik. København: Nyt Nordisk Forlag. German original: Einführung in die Pädagogik. München: Juventa 1970 (2. Auflage) says about educational research ("pedagogy") that is an "aporetic science", i.e. an interdiscipline.
Tengström (1993) emphases that cross-disciplinary research is a process, not a state or structure. He differentiates three levels of ambition regarding cross-disciplinary research:
The pluridisciplinary or multidisciplinarity level The genuine cross-disciplinary level: interdisciplinarity The discipline-forming level transdisciplinarity
What is described here is a view of social fields as dynamic and changing. Library and information science is viewed as a field that started as a multidisciplinary approach based on literature, psychology, sociology, management, computer science etc., which is developing towards an academic discipline in its own right.
Examples Biosemiotics Cryptography Demography "As a field with its own body of interrelated concepts, techniques, journals, and professional associations, demography is clearly a discipline. But by the nature of its subject matter and methods demography is just as clearly an 'interdiscipline', drawing heavily on biology and sociology for the study of fertility; on economics and geography for studies of migration; and on the health sciences for the study of mortality." (Stycos, 1989, vii).
Forensic Kinesiology Genetic toxicology Humor and translation Information science In America information science and communication studies are considered two academic disciplines. In France, however, they are considered one interdiscipline. (See also).
Planetary science Public health Social science in agricultureSingh, Yogendra Pal; Pareek, Udai Narain; Arora, D. R. (1974). "Diffusion of an interdiscipline: social sciences in agriculture education". Delhi: New Heights for Indian Society of Extension Education. Sociolinguistics
See also Academic discipline Interdisciplinarity
Literature