The “Research Audit” Model: A Prototype for Data-Driven Discovery of Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research

The increasing interdisciplinarity of scientific research creates both challenges and opportunities for librarians. The liaison model may be inadequate for supporting campus research that represents multiple disciplines and geographically dispersed departments. The identification of units, researchers, and projects is a first step in planning and providing support for research and publication. The proposed research audit model seeks to inventory research projects and personnel for interdisciplinary biomedical research using a relational database. The innovative use of a discipline-specific ontology as descriptive metadata holds promise for revealing connections that might not otherwise be discovered.