Towards indicating interdisciplinarity: Characterizing interdisciplinary knowledge flow

Abstract This study contributes to the recent discussions on indicating interdisciplinarity, that is, going beyond catch‐all metrics of interdisciplinarity. We propose a contextual framework improve granularity and usability existing methodology for interdisciplinary knowledge flow (IKF) in which scientific disciplines import export from/to other disciplines. To characterize exchange between disciplines, we recognize three aspects IKF under this framework, namely broadness, intensity, homogeneity. show how utilize them uncover different forms especially with largest volume IKF. apply two use cases, one at level journals, it can offer more holistic detailed viewpoint interdisciplinarity entities than aggregated context‐unaware indicators. further compare our proposed an process, established indicators discuss such information tools assist science policy practices as performance‐based research funding systems panel‐based peer review processes.