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.