Exploring institutional interdisciplinarity based on InCites citation topics and WoS subject categories: A case study of C9 League universities

As a new wave of scientific and technological advancements and industrial changes unfolds, interdisciplinary research (IDR) has emerged as a key trend in scientific progress. Although there are various metrics available to assess IDR, the effectiveness and clarity are not fully acknowledged by the scientific community. This research focuses on the C9 League universities in China and employs a bibliometric method to assess institutional interdisciplinarity using a distinct dataset. It specifically combines two classification systems to illustrate the connections between research topics and academic fields: InCites Macro-Citation Topics (CTs) and Web of Science (WoS) Subject Categories (SCs). By examining the co-occurrence of CTs and SCs, this study measures the level of interdisciplinary integration among institutions. The results indicate notable differences in the disciplinary frameworks of C9 League universities compared to those of leading global institutions, revealing both challenges and opportunities for enhancing interdisciplinarity in China's premier research universities.