BACKGROUND Health research consists of multiple disciplines that conceptualize and operationalize health in different ways, making integration of knowledge difficult. To help researchers and practitioners study and intervene on complex health processes, comprehensive integrative frameworks linking multiple disciplines and bodies of knowledge must be developed. AIM This research article presen...

There is a large amount of cross-sectional evidence for a midlife low in the life cycle of human happiness and well-being (a 'U shape'). Yet no genuinely longitudinal inquiry has uncovered evidence for a U-shaped pattern. Thus, some researchers believe the U is a statistical artefact. We re-examine this fundamental cross-disciplinary question. We suggest a new test. Drawing on four data sets, a...

Several important issues and themes emerged from the first expert seminar on music. The first of these was the need for a robust technological infrastructure for music-related ICT, including architectures, protocols and representations that support the development of flexible, extensible, affordable and interoperable music processing systems. Much discussion also focused on the problems involve...

The scope of health research has increased considerably during the last three to four decades, both geographically and regarding the range of disciplines participating in biomedical research. In other words cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary projects are much more common in the World's biomedical research of today. For the large part that involves human research subjects, ethics based on fun...

Abstract While funders increasingly request evidence of the societal benefits research, all academics in UK must periodically provide this information to gain part their block funding within Research Excellence Framework (REF). The impact case studies produced are public and can therefore be used insights into types sources justify claims. This study focuses on URLs cited as last REF help resea...

In my contribution on “Science as Utopia” at the Preparatory Meeting last year, I touched upon the concept of transdisciplinarity, pointing to the fact that research is moving beyond its disciplinary limits. Let me add a few remarks and observations to this concept. In the course of a long institutional route, our academic system has become disturbingly unfathomable.1 This is the case not only ...

Specialized and emerging fields of research infrequently cross disciplinary boundaries and would benefit from frameworks, methods, and materials informed by other fields. Document co-citation analysis, a method developed by bibliometric research, is demonstrated as a way to help identify key literature for cross-disciplinary ideas. To illustrate the method in a useful context, we mapped peer-re...

According to recent estimates, childhood abuse victims are at 12 times higher risk for child abuse perpetration than those without such abusive histories. This study focused on delineation of the mechanisms by which intergenerational patterns of abuse may occur and, in particular, the role that disciplinary attitudes may play in mediating the relation between disciplinary history and risk for a...