Professional development outcomes associated with interdisciplinary research: An integrative review

Abstract

Background: Interdisciplinary research among health care professionals has gained importance over the last 20 years, but little is known about its impact on career development.

Purpose: This study examined professional development outcomes associated with interdisciplinary research.

Methods: An integrative review was conducted using Whittmore and Knafl's framework. PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and CINAHL were searched to identify studies.

Findings: Thirteen studies were included. The majority used bibliometric analyses, finding that moderate level of interdisciplinary collaboration was associated with a greater amount and higher quality of publications. Interdisciplinary publications allocated more credit (i.e., had more authors). Interdisciplinary research proposals had less funding success than single discipline proposals. Important cultural and personal aspects of interdisciplinary research (e.g., work and communication styles, research goals) have not been assessed to date.

Discussion: Rigorous qualitative studies are needed to characterize benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research to scholars and to institutions.

Keywords: Career development; Collaboration; Interdisciplinary; Professional development; Team science.