van Bemmel J H
Institute of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC/Erasmus University, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(4):318-21. doi: 10.3414/me9119.
To discuss the elements of interdisciplinary research and to analyze its contribution to (bio)medical informatics.
Commenting on 'Informatics and Medicine - From Molecules to Populations' from K. A. Kuhn et al. in this issue of Methods of Information in Medicine. Referring to examples of successfully established interdisciplinary research.
Medical informatics is an interdisciplinary field avant la lettre. Experience with successful interdisciplinary research already exists for many decades: Interdisciplinary research is not a category of research but a consequence of addressing a complex problem in society, involving the collaboration between and methods drawn from multiple disciplines. Because research is people, personal interactions are critical for interdisciplinary research. Collaboration takes extra time to develop, to build consensus and to understand new methodologies, languages, and each other's culture. Interdisciplinary research requires leaders with vision and expressive skills. Effective scientific and institutional leadership is critical to the success of interdisciplinary groups. Interdisciplinarity begins in the classroom. Interdisciplinary research cannot be effective without interdisciplinary education. Researchers and teachers should immerse themselves in the culture of other disciplines, learning to explain their work in terms understood by people outside their own discipline. Teams that perform interdisciplinary research should promote collaboration, meet regularly, and recognize that it requires a commitment toward good communication and clear goals. Although much progress is achieved by interdisciplinary research, basic monodisciplinary research is still required to advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge, such as in physics or biology.
探讨跨学科研究的要素，并分析其对（生物）医学信息学的贡献。
对本期《医学信息方法》中K. A. 库恩等人所著的《信息学与医学——从分子到人群》进行评论。参考已成功开展的跨学科研究实例。
医学信息学在本质上就是一个跨学科领域。成功的跨学科研究经验已经存在了数十年：跨学科研究并非一种研究类别，而是应对社会复杂问题的结果，涉及多学科之间的合作以及从多学科借鉴的方法。因为研究是人的活动，人际互动对于跨学科研究至关重要。合作需要额外的时间来发展、达成共识并理解新方法、语言以及彼此的文化。跨学科研究需要有远见和表达能力的领导者。有效的科学和机构领导对于跨学科团队的成功至关重要。跨学科始于课堂。没有跨学科教育，跨学科研究就无法有效开展。研究人员和教师应融入其他学科的文化，学会用本学科以外的人能够理解的方式解释自己的工作。进行跨学科研究的团队应促进合作、定期会面，并认识到这需要致力于良好的沟通和明确的目标。尽管跨学科研究取得了很大进展，但推进科学知识前沿仍需要基础的单学科研究，如物理学或生物学领域的研究。
