Academic genealogy as an indicator of interdisciplinarity: A preliminary examination of sociology doctoral dissertations

Abstract

This project aims to explore the interdisciplinarity heritage of the field of Sociology by utilizing academic genealogy networks based on doctoral dissertation data from ProQuest database. With the advisor name provided by each dissertation, the discipline of each advisor was identified by matching back to ProQuest database. The Subject Categories assigned to advisor dissertations were approximated as the advisor discipline. Results provide an indication of the major areas interacting with Sociology. Disciplines such as business administration, health science and economics show increasing trends in the percentage of sociology advisors getting degrees from them, while the decreasing trends can be found in history and literature.