Does interdisciplinarity improve research performance? An empirical study of faculty members at Chinese universities

Interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognized for its potential to advance scientific frontiers and address global challenges. However, its impact on scientific research is uncertain, due to numerous obstacles stemming from the established disciplinary systems. This study investigates faculty members from China's State Key Laboratories (SKLs) of universities and explores how interdisciplinarity relates to their subsequent research performance. The findings reveal that interdisciplinarity does not significantly impact faculty members' research performance, but it does contribute to the quality of research outcomes. Specifically, previous interdisciplinarity in the knowledge integration stage aids faculty in publishing articles in high-impact journals, while in the knowledge dissemination stage, it leads to more articles in high-impact journals and highly-cited articles. However, the study discovers that interdisciplinarity has not led to an increase in the applicability of research outcomes, underscoring the potential limitations of interdisciplinary research in tackling development challenges within the Chinese context. The paper proposes several insights for enhancing interdisciplinary research based on these findings.