Domain

Academic philosophy is a discipline with a rich variety of objects of research, theoretical approaches, and intellectual traditions. Our discipline therefore has a large number of sub‐disciplines, which are often clustered into three discrete domains, namely the history of philosophy, theoretical philosophy, and practical philosophy. Sub‐disciplines include aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, logic, the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, social philosophy, experimental philosophy, and political philosophy. Some of these have strong multi- or interdisciplinary relationships with the humanities (literature, linguistics, (art) history), digital humanities, the social and behavioural sciences (e.g. political science, sociology, cognitive psychology), the formal sciences (mathematics, informatics) and the natural sciences (physics, medicine, biology). This is also reflected in their research culture. The Dutch Research School of Philosophy OZSW is the platform for cooperation and communication between the various domains and sub‐disciplines in philosophy.

Audiences

Academic philosophy in the Netherlands has a strong international orientation, while also being wellconnected to national public debates and professional practices. Communication among our international community of researchers takes place chiefly in writing by means of academic journals and books. With the general public there is often lively interaction via magazines, newspapers, books, collections, blogs, public debates, etc. In the field of ethics there is much collaboration with professionals, especially in the area of health care and engineering, which takes place through various channels including professional education, reports and conferences. 

 

Products

• Academic publications usually take the form of monographs, articles in international philosophy journals, collections of essays, and contributions to handbooks or encyclopaedias. In some subdisciplines of philosophy, such as logic, published conference proceedings are also important.
• Journal publications are mostly written for specialist areas of research and, as such, journals may have a certain profile corresponding to a specific approach in philosophy or an intellectual tradition.
• Translations of original work are an important practice in the use and transfer of knowledge for certain fields of philosophy.
• In some areas of philosophy products may have a hybrid character, reflecting a need to focus on both academic and general audiences.
• In the history of philosophy editorial work is an important part of our research, often resulting in new editions and translations of earlier works.
• English is the language most often used in our international publications such as journals and books. In some areas and subdisciplines (e.g. history of philosophy, continental philosophy) other languages, mainly German, French, Italian, are common as well. In other areas, as well as in societal contexts, Dutch language publications are relevant.

 

Review process and authorship

• Peer review processes are of great importance for the academic rigour of national and international publications, in the form of editorial review or (double blind) referee review. This holds for articles in journals, monographs, collections of essays, etc.
• The most common form of authorship of written output is the single‐authored publication (though co‐authored publications are on the rise). This applies both to journal articles and books (monographs) which usually have a longer throughput time than multi‐authored publications in other disciplines.
• Unlike many other sciences, in philosophy co‐authorship requires that a substantial part of the actual writing was done by the co‐author and so discussing, commenting upon, and suggesting revisions for articles written by PhD students and junior colleagues usually does not result in coauthorship.

 

 Domain-specific aspects

Collaboration with professionals and communication with the general public often takes the form of hybrid (book) publications, participation in public debates, contributions to magazines and blogs, and through reports for professional organisations and the government.

 

Status of quality indicators

The quality indicators specified in the document “Quality Indicators for Philosophy” have been compiled by a panel consisting of the chairs of the three chambers of the OZSW (History of Philosophy, Theoretical Philosophy, and Ethics and Practical Philosophy) and the chair of the OZSW board. These indicators were discussed in the three chambers. More than OZSW 75 members participated in this process. The indicators were authorised by the board of the OZSW in September 2018. Indicators authorised by panels of other disciplines may be relevant for philosophy in the case of interdisciplinary research.

 

Relevance of quantitative indicators

Bibliometric indicators such as quantitative citation analyses are rarely useful in philosophy, even if they are based on Google Scholar, because not all publication channels are indexed and current reference practices are often too diverse.

We refer to the OZSW website for a description of the quality indicators for philosophy with an explanation on how to use these.

 

Nota bene: this description is from 2017 and was partly updated in 2023

An SEP self-evaluation report is written as a coherent argument of a maximum of 20 pages, excluding appendices and case studies. In the report, the unit uses robust data to evaluate its results in the past period in relation to its own goals and strategy.

 

Indicators

To substantiate the arguments, use is made of data collected with the help of indicators. An overview of the indicators can be found in SEP Appendix E1; this is partly explained further in SEP Appendix E2.

QRiH offers a more detailed version of the overview of indicators in the SEP (which is itself partly derived from QRiH).

 

Case studies

Case studies are included in the SEP not only as a way to substantiate the self-evaluation, but also as a robust supportive element (see SEP Appendix E3). Case studies can also take a narrative form. They may relate to certain projects or programmes at the research unit, or to certain aspects of the research activities, such as the interaction between the research activities and society or the PhD programmes.

Domain

Regional and Transnational Studies involves interdisciplinary research on geographical, cultural, religious and political regions and the relations between them, at varying aggregation levels. The focus and emphases can differ considerably, something that is usually reflected in the domain names, which can range from Middle East Studies to Global Studies.

Researchers in this field work on the national and translational dimensions of political, intellectual and institutional cultures and themes, and on issues of cultural, linguistic and religious identity and their representation in art and literature. The research also focuses on the relations between global and regional orders, borders and identities, both historically and in the present day. The research combines approaches from the humanities and social sciences, including history, art and cultural studies, political, legal and institutional studies, geography, economics, anthropology and religious studies.

 

Audiences

The domain of Regional and Transnational Studies is aimed at different audiences.

• An academic discipline with a strong international focus when it comes to scholarly research results.
• A hybrid audience of policymakers, journalists and officials when it comes to the valorisation of socially-oriented research results and the provision of background knowledge on current international, political and social developments and events.
• A general audience, especially in the Netherlands, when it comes to providing background knowledge on current international, political and social developments and conveying information about the historical and cultural aspects of the various regions and transnational developments with which the domain is concerned.

 

Processes and strategies

Scholarly publications, communication with professionals and informing a broad interested audience are all of great importance. Within the domain of Regional and Transnational Studies, researchers use various methods/strategies to valorise their knowledge, both academic and hybrid, with the two forms being equally valid. This takes place in the form of monographs, journal articles and contributions to scholarly edited volumes, contributions to hybrid (book) publications, lectures, participation in public debates, contributions to daily and weekly newspapers, blogs and vlogs, and consultancy. Importantly, communication is largely held in the language(s) of the region concerned, by no means exclusively in English.

• When it comes to publication forms, there are both single-authored and multi-authored publications.

• Journal publications have an international orientation.
• Articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to edited collections are important, often in relation to networks and conferences.

• Monographs require more production time – several years of work – and in many cases are produced later in a scholar’s career; monographs still carry a lot of prestige in this domain.

• A researcher’s opportunities for valorisation depend on the degree to which the specialism is associated with current social issues and the extent to which the research is important for the Netherlands or for the regions and transnational connections.

• Hybrid publications often result from lectures and appearances for scholarly, professional and general public audiences, radio and TV appearances, and participation in (Internet) blogs. 

 

Domain-specific aspects of quality and relevance

This domain is characterised by its highly interdisciplinary nature, which serves both international and local audiences and communicates through academic and hybrid channels. Knowledge of the source languages is also typical of high-quality research in this domain. Given the social impact of the research domain, valorisation is a key factor.

 

Applicability of quantitative indicators of use and recognition

Hybrid publications, especially books, target both academic researchers and professional groups, as well as interested external parties.

In view of the rather limited registration of journals and the lack of monographs as sources for established databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, it is inadvisable to use bibliometric data from these databases. In some cases, it is possible to trace references to monographs using Google Scholar. The representation of publications in this field in Google Scholar is limited, however, meaning that caution is warranted. When it comes to hybrid publications, in addition to Google Scholar, it is also possible to do use-analyses by conducting Internet searches, for example, in order to identify general and scholarly users.