Vietnam aspires to have a tier of research-intensive universities, including some that will soon attain "world-class" status. This goal is ambitious and will require, amongst other things, a significantly increased level of commitment to the development of discipline-based research cultures at the universities concerned. This paper reports on the state of discipline-based research cultures at two leading research-oriented universities in Vietnam. Discipline-based research cultures are found to be present at these universities, but they are stronger in the sciences and technologies. Measures required to nurture discipline-based research across all knowledge areas are discussed.