Comparison of Trends in the Degree of Publication Diversity among Fields of Social Sciences and Humanities at National Taiwan University

Abstract

This study reviewed the annual changes in the degree of publication diversity among all types of written works produced by faculty members from 11 fields of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) at National Taiwan University over the period of 2000–2017. Among the 20 types of written pieces identified, journal articles were the most prevalent for each of the 11 fields except drama and theater. Among the 20 types, a significant difference in the proportion of journal articles, ranging from 20.8% to 95.4%, was observed among distinct fields. The faculties of economics and library and information science were dedicated to publishing articles in top-tier journals indexed by Journal Citation Reports, whereas faculties focused on other fields preferred to publish in domestic top-tier journals. Book chapters were the second most common type for nine fields (all excluding anthropology and drama and theater). The majority of fields of the humanities had higher degrees of publication diversity than the social sciences fields. History and economics exhibited the highest and lowest degrees of publication diversity, respectively. With the promotion of internationalization, a decreasing trend in the diversity of output was anticipated. However, this did not occur in either the anthropology or sociology fields. Moreover, the research incentive system, which emphasized international visibility, boosted the number of English-language writings, but this trend was not observed in the two fields of Chinese literature or drama and theater.

Keywords

• publication type
• publication language
• social sciences
• humanities
• degree of publication diversity