Who does interdisciplinarity in academia and where does it take place in the Brazilian Higher Education System

Interdisciplinarity has grown and has impacted higher education institutions and scholars across the world. However, most studies are limited to its behavior and effects in developed countries. We suggest studying interdisciplinarity in the context of the Brazilian higher education system, a maturing higher education system where its development happens simultaneously with the push for interdisciplinarity. Using data from all scholars registered as teachers in graduate programs in Brazil from 2013 to 2021, we find that those scholars in new and less traditional programs and institutions seem more likely to be interdisciplinary and to work across fields. Furthermore, we identify that interdisciplinarity is increasing in academia as the higher education system grows, bringing new scholars from distinct academic backgrounds to teach both traditional and interdisciplinary graduate programs across Brazil. This study provides one of the first comprehensive analyses of interdisciplinarity in a developing, expanding higher education system. It introduces a structural measure of interdisciplinarity by linking scholars’ doctoral fields to the fields in which they teach. The findings show that system expansion and targeted public policies foster greater interdisciplinary engagement across Brazil.