Analysis of Cross-Disciplinary Research Through Bibliometric Tools

A review of interdisciplinarity in science is presented from the point of view of quantitative studies of science. The main objectives pursued and methodologies used in publications on cross-disciplinary research are pointed out, as well as the most relevant results obtained. The study of cross-disciplinary collaboration between authors, co-classification analysis, interdisciplinary nature of publication journals and cross-disciplinary references and/or citations are the most useful approaches to the topic. Results about a global analysis of scientific areas and disciplines based on ISI multi-assignation indicators are presented.