There is growing international consensus on best practice in interdisciplinary research (see Nature 525, 305; 2015). This has been spurred by various online initiatives.

Transdisciplinarity-net, sponsored by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, offers a toolkit of useful research strategies (see www.transdisciplinarity.ch/toolbox). The Association for Interdisciplinary Studies provides many resources, including an 'About interdisciplinarity' section that outlines definitions and best practices (see www.p.oakland.edu/ais). A set of useful short guides is also available (see go.nature.com/faclve) and the Australian I2S site for integration and implementation sciences provides detailed resources (see i2s.anu.edu.au). The Science of Team Science initiative sponsored by the US National Cancer Institute addresses the particular challenges of conducting research in teams (see www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov).

Notable among the many books on the topic are Methods for Transdisciplinary Research (Univ. Chicago Press, 2013) by Matthias Bergmann and colleagues and Interdisciplinary Research (Sage, 2011) by Allen Repko.

Because interdisciplinarity is still an emerging approach, such recommendations need reviewing and updating regularly if its potential is to be realized — by those who do interdisciplinary research and by those who study its progress.