Linguistics encompasses a variety of different specialisms in the Netherlands many of which are interdisciplinary in nature. Within Linguistics eighteen subdomains may be identified: syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, phonology, communication, morphology, computational linguistics, historical linguistics, linguistic philosophy, psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and descriptions of individual languages in grammars and dictionaries. Then there are various areas of application, such as human language and speech technology, forensic research, teaching of mother tongue and foreign languages, language consultancy and speech-language pathology, which may also be approached purely theoretically, often in conjunction with other specialisms. In the Netherlands, the domain is organised by research school LOT.
Target groups
Most specialisms are international in orientation, as demonstrated by their preference for publication in highly qualified international journals. Specialists in these subdomains often emphasise communication with specialist peers. They also have links with specific professional groups, for example language technologists, speech therapists, foreign language teachers and Dutch teachers (and teacher trainers). Given the considerable public interest in Linguistics, researchers communicate by producing books (including hybrid books), contributing to media, and blogging.
Products and communication
- In terms of quantity, publication in international and domestic journals is the main form of communication. In addition, researchers frequently publish essays in edited volumes and overview articles in manuals. Most of the journals can be found in international indices and databases such as WoS, Scopus and ERIH and ERIH+. These indices, which are also covered in this guidance, are dynamic and non-exhaustive in nature.
- Open Access is growing in importance for journal publications.
- Proceedings are very important channels of communication for a number of subdomains in linguistics, for example computational linguistics, and for both junior and senior researchers. Proceedings are also important in such areas as theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics, where they are a communication channel mainly for junior researchers.
- Increasingly, researchers in linguistics are placing publications on their own websites for download, but also on such sites as academia.eu and researchgate.net, which are growing in importance as international communication channels.
- Books, especially those published by reputable publishers, reach a broad readership of specialists (for example with manuals that are also available in electronic form), professional practitioners and interested parties. Evidence for this wide-ranging reception can be found in the vast numbers of citations that these publications receive in Google Scholar, for example.
- Consulting on education, communication, etc.
- Other products include online dictionaries, online grammars, databases, digital tools, and participation in professional online forums.
- The most common language of communication in journals is English, but publications also appear in other languages, including Dutch, German and French, depending on the specialism. Review processes are extremely important, including for books, edited volumes, and often also conferences. The most common review procedure is the detailed, anonymous peer review.
Processes and strategies
- Communication generally takes place by means of the following processes: attending and organising conferences, co-authorships in edited volumes, and communication through channels other than journals and conferences (specialist forums and alliances). Institutions cooperate with one another in many different ways to produce databases.
- Journal publications are frequently written by multiple authors, with the order of authors often determined by contribution. In psycholinguistics and other experimental work, a different order is often followed instead, with first and last authorship being most important: the first author has done most of the writing, while the last author is the project leader. In rare cases, there is alphabetical co-authorship. Monographs and review articles are mostly "single authored".
Domain-specific aspects of quality and relevance
Online forums and virtual research environments, software, dictionaries, databases, web portals. Many of these research outputs are hybrid products, in other words accessible by academics, professionals and other target groups.
Relevance of quantitative indicators for use and marks of recognition
When it comes to the relevance of quantitative indicators for use and recognition, it can be noted:
- That this is possible for many subdomains, provided there is significant coverage of realised output in databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar or also Web of Science.
- That the visibility of activities in virtual research environments and Internet forums cannot yet be analysed with established bibliometric tools.
- Possible in many of the subdomains, provided that the output has broad coverage in such databases as Scopus, Google Scholar or Web of Science.
- It is not yet possible to analyse activities in virtual research environments or online forums using established bibliometric tools.