ABSTRACT
Interdisciplinarity in human development and family science (HDFS) is difficult to define because the boundaries demarcating the discipline are ambiguous. We introduce disciplinary systems theory (DST), which, like family systems theory, is a variant of general systems theory. DST describes how disciplinary systems and subsystems create boundaries of variable permeability. We use bibliometric review techniques to explore boundary permeability to describe interdisciplinarity in HDFS. We reviewed 278 articles published in Child Development, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Family Relations in 2014. The disciplinary affiliations of the first three authors of each article were identified. The papers referenced in those articles, and the papers that later cited those articles were identified and classified by discipline using Web of Science categories. We found stubbornly impermeable subdisciplinary boundaries between developmental science and family science, but a very strong suprasystem connecting developmental science to its root discipline of psychology. Authorship and citation patterns indicate less permeable boundaries between HDFS and the related disciplines of education and social work.