Can epidemic models describe the diffusion of topics across disciplines?

This paper introduces a new approach to describe the spread of research topics across disciplines using epidemic models. The approach is based on applying individual-based models from mathematical epidemiology to the diffusion of a research topic over a contact network that represents knowledge flows over the map of science—as obtained from citations between ISI Subject Categories. Using research publications on the protein class kinesin as a case study, we report a better fit between model and empirical data when using the citation-based contact network. Incubation periods on the order of 4–15.5 years support the view that, whilst research topics may grow very quickly, they face difficulties to overcome disciplinary boundaries.