Measures of Interdisciplinary Research Success
The cross-cutting nature of Purdue University’s research institutes and centers make them inherently interdisciplinary and provides a critical contribution to the excellence of Purdue’s academic enterprise. Measures of interdisciplinary research success at Purdue can be evaluated through metrics that encompass funding, operational effectiveness, teaching and educational impact, research effectiveness, and visibility and impact.
Here are some key measures of interdisciplinary research success:
- Interdisciplinary Research Effectiveness
- Interdisciplinary research effectiveness for institutes and centers can be gauged by co-authorship and citations such as publications and citations in high-impact journals spanning multiple disciplines, invention disclosures, patents, or licensing for applications impacting multiple domains, the number of grants awarded relative to grants submitted, interdisciplinary publications per year, and institute/center faculty retention and tenure rate.
- Interdisciplinary Research Funding
- Key funding metrics include both current amounts and multi-year trends for research spanning multiple disciplines, departments, and colleges in terms of total grant funding, total expenditures, and indirect cost recovery. Second level metrics include revenue raised per administrative cost and indirect cost recovery relative to both total grant expenditures and central finance support.
- Interdisciplinary Support
- Interdisciplinary support is measured by total and staff dedicated to interdisciplinary support, interdisciplinary administrative costs as a percentage of total costs, shared staff FTEs, utilization of space (time used vs. time available), and administrative audit results. Total space (square footage), infrastructure and equipment investments, and fund balances are additional crucial indicators.
- Interdisciplinary Visibility, Impact, and Reputation
- Visibility and impact are assessed through mentions of the unit in media, faculty recruitment, program rankings, and the number of units participating.
