On the emergence of interdisciplinary scientific fields: (how) does it relate to science convergence?

Abstract

Interdisciplinary scientific fields, such as synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and human brain science, often emerge at the intersection of existing scientific disciplines. This fundamental process is described in the literature streams of ‘science convergence’ and the ‘evolution of new scientific fields’. However, despite their empirical relevance and the potential for science convergence to accelerate the evolution of these new fields, the two concepts have been developed separately up to this point. In this study, we therefore investigate the interplay between the two concepts by first conducting a systematic review of the literature on science convergence to examine its underlying dynamics. We then integrate the concept of science convergence into the current understanding of the evolutionary process of new scientific fields, leading to a new theoretical conceptualization and typology of the different pathways in the evolution of interdisciplinary scientific fields. The pathways exhibit varying levels of interdisciplinary research activities at different stages of the evolutionary process. We apply this typology to cases of synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and human brain science, illustrating how science convergence and an early emphasis on interdisciplinary research activities drive the evolutionary process of a new scientific field. In essence, our typology and its related proxies enable policymakers and other actors to understand how science convergence gives rise to new interdisciplinary scientific fields.