{
  "id": 6794024,
  "title": "New measure captures how scientists' identities shift across academic disciplines",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/new-measure-captures-how-scientists-identities-shift-across-academic",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-11T20:20:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-captures-scientists-identities-shift-academic.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study conducted by researchers at Rice University and Michigan State University reveals that a scientist's disciplinary affiliation may not accurately reflect their professional identity decades after earning a doctoral degree. The study, published in PLOS One, introduces a new Disciplinarity Scale that measures the extent to which scientists remain closely connected to their original field or expand their scope over time. The scale considers five dimensions: department affiliation, primary professional association, publishing outlets, peer perception, and self-identification. The research, which surveyed 4,113 tenure-system science faculty at 83 U.S. research universities, found that scientists' disciplinary affiliations tend to broaden over time, particularly those with experience in cross-disciplinary research. The findings highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of scientists' affiliations, especially as interdisciplinary research becomes increasingly prevalent.",
  "summary": "Does the academic discipline of a scientist's doctorate accurately capture their disciplinary affiliation decades later? Consider a scientist who earned a doctorate in physics 25 years ago who now studies climate change, publishes primarily in interdisciplinary journals and considers herself a climate scientist. Does \"physics\" still accurately describe where she fits in science?",
  "key_points": [
    "New study by Rice University and Michigan State University researchers",
    "Disciplinarity Scale measures scientists' identity shifts over decades",
    "Scientists' affiliations tend to broaden, especially in cross-disciplinary research"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}