Structures in scientific communication

Scientific research has fueled much of the recent technological advances driving economic development. Though the costs structure of the research process has been well documented, analysis of its intellectual content is less developed. In this dissertation, I use the citation practice in articles to trace the flow of ideas between fields of research. I consider the codified knowledge in professional journals to be the output of scientific research. Using a database of citation records modeled in an input-output framework, I attempt to reveal the underlying structures in the flow of ideas across scientific disciplines. This dissertation therefore has a dual objective: (1) to construct a communication model of scientific knowledge in which questions regarding the structure of knowledge can be addressed. (2) to assess the transferrability of the Input-Output framework to disciplines outside the one in which it originated, namely economics.; I show that the structural concepts of the input-output framework are critical in constructing and interpreting a meaningful taxonomy of scientific fields, which is itself necessary for the effective analysis of interdependence. My main results are: medical science has a very different structure from the other fields of science and the physical sciences and engineering fields form a well integrated and interdependent cluster. The humanities and social sciences, although closer to each other than to other fields, constitute a loose cluster. Besides the hierarchical and broad outlines, I show that in many instances, the traditional classification of the sciences has obscured real linkages among fields and has imposed some where they do not really exist. I suggest extending this research to the interdependence between science and technology, hence providing a link to the economic sectors.