Some thoughts on interdisciplinarity in collaborative networks' research and manufacturing sciences

Abstract

PurposeScientific progress in a field is mostly discussed within disciplines. Far less attention is paid to outside or between disciplines' work. To speed up research progresses for collaborative networks (CN) in manufacturing, a base for further grounded theory establishment is propagated, recalling some of the most relevant chapters of philosophy of science. The focus is put onto the roles of disciplines and their scholars involved in interdisciplinary contexts, in order to further motivate as well as to hint at a number of catalysing forces and fruitful impacts of outside disciplines' work.Design/methodology/approachThe intentions of this Special Issue are mirrored to important and well‐accepted findings in the philosophy of science. All papers that are included in this journal issue are positioned within a general framework of scientific disciplines and theory building understanding.FindingsInterdisciplinary work is speeding up theory building and innovation in CNs in general and in all applications for manufacturing in particular. In order to encourage publications of project work and solutions that do not neatly fit into the scientific disciplines set up, it is pointed out that exactly these papers have the potential to unveil unattended and valuable insights. This kind of outline often confirms both gut feelings of managers, as well as vague hypotheses of researchers and scientists.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows that more attention might be paid to outside contributions and to mechanisms to increase their impact on theory building in manufacturing science.Originality/valueFor the field of CN, the paper represents a first and unique attempt to enhance scientific progress by emphasising theory contributions from other disciplines. The approach contributes to theoretically as well as methodically supporting the fast growing number of practical solutions beyond state of art.