“Interdisciplinarity” and “Synergy” in the Œuvre of Judit Bar-Ilan

Both “interdisciplinarity” and “synergy” are desirable features from a policy perspective: can surplus be found in the interactions among (disciplinary) bodies of knowledge? We have recently developed measures for “interdisciplinarity” and distinguished these measurements from those of “synergy.” In this study, we analyze three review papers by Judit Bar-Ilan (Scientometrics 50(1):7–32, 2001, Ann Rev Inf Sci Technol (ARIST) 38:231–288, 2004, J Informetr 2(1):1–52, 2008a) in terms of whether they rank high on interdisciplinarity and synergy values among the 130 papers of her œuvre. Review papers can be expected to fulfill a synergetic and perhaps also interdisciplinary function in scientific literature more than research articles, since the literature is considered from a broader perspective. Both the interdisciplinarity and synergy indicators point to Bar-Ilan (2004). The three reviews have high synergy scores. Whereas Bar-Ilan (2008a) contributed to the redefinition and shaping of the discipline of “information science,” Bar-Ilan (2004) added the broader perspective of the theoretical and practical relevance of the discipline. Bar-Ilan (2001) reviews various methods for data collection at the Internet. An article of Bar-Ilan and Peritz (2002) in Library Trends scores also high on synergy.