An '''interdiscipline''' or '''inter-discipline''' is a field that involves two or more academic disciplines but which also meets the formal criteria (such as dedicated research journals, conferences and university departments) to be considered a discipline in its own right. A field may be both a discipline and an interdiscipline at the same time, such as demography as explained below. A field may also be regarded as a discipline in some countries but an interdiscipline in other countries, such as information science.
==Conceptions== Giesecke (1981)<ref>Giesecke, Hermann (1981). ''Indføring i pædagogik''. København: Nyt Nordisk Forlag. German original: ''Einführung in die Pädagogik.'' München: Juventa 1970 (2. Auflage)</ref> says about educational research ("pedagogy") that is an "aporetic science", i.e. an interdiscipline.
Tengström (1993)<ref>{{cite journal|author=Tengström, E.|year=1993|title=Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapen - ett fler- eller tvärvetenskapligt område?|journal=Svensk Biblioteksforskning|issue=1|pages=9–20}}</ref> emphases that cross-disciplinary research is a process, not a state or structure. He differentiates three levels of ambition regarding cross-disciplinary research:
*The pluridisciplinary or multidisciplinarity level *The genuine cross-disciplinary level: interdisciplinarity *The discipline-forming level transdisciplinarity
What is described here is a view of social fields as dynamic and changing. Library and information science is viewed as a field that started as a multidisciplinary approach based on literature, psychology, sociology, management, computer science etc., which is developing towards an academic discipline in its own right.
==Examples== *Biosemiotics<ref>{{cite journal|author=Augustyn, P.|year=2008|title=Biosemiotics: Protoscience, interdiscipline, new biology|journal=Semiotica|volume=172|issue=1–4|pages=479–487|doi=10.1515/SEMI.2008.107|s2cid=170875958 }}</ref> *Cryptography *Demography :"As a field with its own body of interrelated concepts, techniques, journals, and professional associations, demography is clearly a discipline. But by the nature of its subject matter and methods demography is just as clearly an 'interdiscipline', drawing heavily on biology and sociology for the study of fertility; on economics and geography for studies of migration; and on the health sciences for the study of mortality." (Stycos, 1989, vii).<ref>{{cite book|editor=Stycos, J Mayone|year=1989|title=Demography as an interdiscipline|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|publisher=Transactions Publishers}}</ref>
*Forensic Kinesiology<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Pelham, T.W.|author2=Holt, L.E.|author3=Holt, J.|name-list-style=amp|year=2010|title= Forensic Kinesiology Foundations of an Interdiscipline for Accident/Crime Investigation|journal=American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology|volume=31|issue=2|pages=200–203|pmid=20110802|doi=10.1097/PAF.0b013e3181cfc890|s2cid=31269119 }}</ref> *Genetic toxicology<ref>{{cite journal|author=Frickel, S.|year=2004|title=Building an interdiscipline: Collective action framing and the rise of genetic toxicology|journal=Social Problems|volume=51|issue=2|pages=269–287|doi=10.1525/sp.2004.51.2.269}}</ref> *Humor and translation<ref>{{cite journal|author=Zabalbeascoa, P.|year=2005|title=Humor and translation – an interdiscipline|journal=Humor: International Journal of Humor Research|volume=18|issue=2|pages=185–207|doi=10.1515/humr.2005.18.2.185|url=http://m.repositori.upf.edu/bitstream/handle/10230/22492/zabalbeascoa_humor_2005.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=2016-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922222631/http://m.repositori.upf.edu/bitstream/handle/10230/22492/zabalbeascoa_humor_2005.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=2016-09-22|url-status=dead|hdl=10230/22492|s2cid=53326473 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> *Information science :In America information science and communication studies are considered two academic disciplines. In France, however, they are considered one interdiscipline. (See also<ref>{{cite book|author=Newell, A.|year=1983|chapter=Reflections on the structure of an interdiscipline|editor1=Machlup, F.|editor2=U. Mansfield|name-list-style=amp|title=The study of information: Interdisciplinary messages|pages=99–110|location=NY|publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref>).
*Planetary science *Public health<ref>{{cite journal|author=Von Lengerke, T.|year=2006|title=Public health is an interdiscipline, and about wholes and parts – Indeed, critical health psychology needs to join forces|journal=Journal of Health Psychology|volume=11|issue=3|pages=395–399|pmid=16774893|doi=10.1177/1359105306063311}}</ref> *Social science in agriculture<ref>Singh, Yogendra Pal; Pareek, Udai Narain; Arora, D. R. (1974). "Diffusion of an interdiscipline: social sciences in agriculture education". Delhi: New Heights for Indian Society of Extension Education.</ref> *Sociolinguistics<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wolck, W.|year=1977|title=Sociolinguistics: Revolution or interdiscipline?|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=20|issue=5|pages=733–756|doi=10.1177/000276427702000511|s2cid=220682291 }}</ref>
==See also== * Academic discipline * Interdisciplinarity
==Literature== <ref>{{cite journal|author=Dezago, M.B.|year=1978|title=Interdiscipline: Search and discovery—systematization, application and transfer|journal=Impact of Science on Society|volume=28|issue=2|pages=127–137}}</ref> {{Reflist}}
Category:Academia Category:Pedagogy