“The preprint linked to below was recently posted on arXiv.

Title

Mapping Three Decades of Intellectual Change in Academia

Authors

Daniel Rammage
Stanford Computer Science Department
Google

Christopher Manning
Stanford Computer Science Department

Daniel A. McFarland
Stanford School of Education

Source

via arXiv

Abstract

Research on the development of science has focused on the creation of
multidisciplinary teams. However, while this coming together of people
is symmetrical, the ideas, methods, and vocabulary of science have a
directional flow. We present a statistical model of the text of
dissertation abstracts from 1980 to 2010, revealing for the first time
the large-scale flow of language across fields. Results of the
analysis include identifying methodological fields that export
broadly, emerging topical fields that borrow heavily and expand, and
old topical fields that grow insular and retract. Particular findings
show a growing split between molecular and ecological forms of biology
and a sea change in the humanities and social sciences driven by the
rise of gender and ethnic studies.

Direct to Full Text Article (Preprint)
15 pages; PDF.”