Iranian Institute for Social & Cultural Studies Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities 2008-4641 Articles in Press 2026 07 31 Interdisciplinary Rituals: The Missing Link in Discourse Formation within Knowledge Integration Studies Interdisciplinary Rituals: The Missing Link in Discourse Formation within Knowledge Integration Studies 580 10.22035/isih.2026.5826.5355 FA Masoud Salmani Bidgoli Department of History of Medicine, Faculty of Iranian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences; 0000-0002-3263-9816 Hamidreza Namazi Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center and Department of Medical Ethics and Department of History of Medicine, School of Medicine Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2026 06 02 In recent decades, interdisciplinarity has become a central concept in the organization of knowledge, the solution of complex problems, and the reconsideration of disciplinary boundaries. However, much of the existing literature has focused mainly on knowledge integration and has paid less attention to how interdisciplinary collaborations move beyond temporary interactions and become stable and legitimate discourses within the scientific field. This article addresses this missing link by introducing the concept of interdisciplinary rituals. Its central argument is that interdisciplinary rituals consist of recurring linguistic, interactive, cognitive, institutional, identity-forming, and legitimizing patterns that enable the transition from epistemic difference to knowledge integration and interdisciplinary discourse formation.<br /> Adopting a theoretical-conceptual approach, the article revisits the relationship between knowledge, scientific practice, and discursive stabilization through the lenses of interdisciplinarity studies, discourse theory, and ritual theory. In this framework, the perspectives of Klein and Repko on interdisciplinary integration are examined alongside the works of Foucault, Laclau, Durkheim, Turner, Goffman, and Catherine Bell on rituals as mechanisms for producing order, meaning, identity, and legitimacy. The article argues that interdisciplinarity is not simply the result of combining disciplines and methods, but depends on a process of ritualization through which repetition, recognition, norm formation, and trust shape a shared epistemic community.<br /> Accordingly, the article proposes a conceptual model that begins with epistemic difference and culminates in interdisciplinary discourse formation. Its main contribution lies in shifting the analytical focus from integration to stabilization, and from collaboration to discourse-making.<br /> In recent decades, interdisciplinarity has become a central concept in the organization of knowledge, the solution of complex problems, and the reconsideration of disciplinary boundaries. However, much of the existing literature has focused mainly on knowledge integration and has paid less attention to how interdisciplinary collaborations move beyond temporary interactions and become stable and legitimate discourses within the scientific field. This article addresses this missing link by introducing the concept of interdisciplinary rituals. Its central argument is that interdisciplinary rituals consist of recurring linguistic, interactive, cognitive, institutional, identity-forming, and legitimizing patterns that enable the transition from epistemic difference to knowledge integration and interdisciplinary discourse formation.<br /> Adopting a theoretical-conceptual approach, the article revisits the relationship between knowledge, scientific practice, and discursive stabilization through the lenses of interdisciplinarity studies, discourse theory, and ritual theory. In this framework, the perspectives of Klein and Repko on interdisciplinary integration are examined alongside the works of Foucault, Laclau, Durkheim, Turner, Goffman, and Catherine Bell on rituals as mechanisms for producing order, meaning, identity, and legitimacy. The article argues that interdisciplinarity is not simply the result of combining disciplines and methods, but depends on a process of ritualization through which repetition, recognition, norm formation, and trust shape a shared epistemic community.<br /> Accordingly, the article proposes a conceptual model that begins with epistemic difference and culminates in interdisciplinary discourse formation. Its main contribution lies in shifting the analytical focus from integration to stabilization, and from collaboration to discourse-making.<br />