<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Purpose</h3><p>This study attempts to disclose the characteristics of knowledge integration in an interdisciplinary field by looking into the content aspect of knowledge.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3><p>The eHealth field was chosen in the case study. Associated knowledge phrases (AKPs) that are shared between citing papers and their references were extracted from the citation contexts of the eHealth papers by applying a stem-matching method. A classification schema that considers the functions of knowledge in the domain was proposed to categorize the identified AKPs. The source disciplines of each knowledge type were analyzed. Quantitative indicators and a co-occurrence analysis were applied to disclose the integration patterns of different knowledge types.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Findings</h3><p>The annotated AKPs evidence the major disciplines supplying each type of knowledge. Different knowledge types have remarkably different integration patterns in terms of knowledge amount, the breadth of source disciplines, and the integration time lag. We also find several frequent co-occurrence patterns of different knowledge types.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Research limitations</h3><p>The collected articles of the field are limited to the two leading open access journals. The stem-matching method to extract AKPs could not identify those phrases with the same meaning but expressed in words with different stems. The type of Research Subject dominates the recognized AKPs, which calls on an improvement of the classification schema for better knowledge integration analysis on knowledge units.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Practical implications</h3><p>The methodology proposed in this paper sheds new light on knowledge integration characteristics of an interdisciplinary field from the content perspective. The findings have practical implications on the future development of research strategies in eHealth and the policies about interdisciplinary research.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Originality/value</h3><p>This study proposed a new methodology to explore the content characteristics of knowledge integration in an interdisciplinary field.</p></sec>
</abstract>

PurposeThis study attempts to disclose the characteristics of knowledge integration in an interdisciplinary field by looking into the content aspect of knowledge.
Design/methodology/approachThe eHealth field was chosen in the case study. Associated knowledge phrases (AKPs) that are shared between citing papers and their references were extracted from the citation contexts of the eHealth papers by applying a stem-matching method. A classification schema that considers the functions of knowledge in the domain was proposed to categorize the identified AKPs. The source disciplines of each knowledge type were analyzed. Quantitative indicators and a co-occurrence analysis were applied to disclose the integration patterns of different knowledge types.
FindingsThe annotated AKPs evidence the major disciplines supplying each type of knowledge. Different knowledge types have remarkably different integration patterns in terms of knowledge amount, the breadth of source disciplines, and the integration time lag. We also find several frequent co-occurrence patterns of different knowledge types.
Research limitationsThe collected articles of the field are limited to the two leading open access journals. The stem-matching method to extract AKPs could not identify those phrases with the same meaning but expressed in words with different stems. The type of Research Subject dominates the recognized AKPs, which calls on an improvement of the classification schema for better knowledge integration analysis on knowledge units.
Practical implicationsThe methodology proposed in this paper sheds new light on knowledge integration characteristics of an interdisciplinary field from the content perspective. The findings have practical implications on the future development of research strategies in eHealth and the policies about interdisciplinary research.
Originality/valueThis study proposed a new methodology to explore the content characteristics of knowledge integration in an interdisciplinary field.

Content Characteristics of Knowledge Integration in the eHealth Field: An Analysis Based on Citation Contexts

Center for Studies of Information Resources

Journal of Data and Information Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

PurposeThis study attempts to disclose the characteristics of knowledge integration in an interdisciplinary field by looking into the content aspect of...

Content Characteristics of Knowledge Integration in the eHealth Field: An Analysis Based on Citation Contexts

Article Category: Research Paper

Published Online: Mar 02, 2021

Page range: 58 - 74

Received: Nov 01, 2020

Accepted: Feb 05, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0015

Keywords
Knowledge integration, Interdisciplinary research, Citation contexts, eHealth, Knowledge content

© 2021 Shiyun Wang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Content Characteristics of Knowledge Integration in the eHealth Field: An Analysis Based on Citation Contexts

Article Category: Research Paper

Published Online: Mar 02, 2021

Page range: 58 - 74

Received: Nov 01, 2020

Accepted: Feb 05, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0015

KeywordsKnowledge integration, Interdisciplinary research, Citation contexts, eHealth, Knowledge content

© 2021 Shiyun Wang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Knowledge integration, Interdisciplinary research, Citation contexts, eHealth, Knowledge content