Discipline size mediates citation flow

The communication and transfer of information are important aspects of scientific research. While communication between disciplines has been measured using citation networks, we still lack knowledge about how the information transfer takes place across all disciplines. Here, we investigate a network of citations across computationally defined disciplines (Map of Science) to better understand interactions between disciplines at the system level of all disciplines. We do this by applying regression analyses to characteristics pertaining to discipline size and citation flow. We find a significant relationship between discipline size and interdisciplinary interactions. Our system-level analysis suggests the potential role that characteristics of each discipline, namely discipline size, may play in scientific communication and the importance of actively incorporating them into future studies.