Climate scientists have different views on what interdisciplinarity means, influenced by their group discussions and disciplinary backgrounds. By analyzing group conversations, researchers found that each group had a unique understanding of interdisciplinarity, based on their disciplinary identities. While all groups saw it as scientists working together, they differed in where they believed interdisciplinary collaboration should start. Groups with a strong disciplinary focus used their specific ways of thinking and working to define interdisciplinarity. The level of openness to different interpretations of the term depended on how interdisciplinary the group was internally.