Theology and Religious Studies is an interdisciplinary domain that encompasses a large number of academic subdisciplines, including philosophy, religious philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology and some areas of literary theory. Scholars in this domain study different religious and philosophical traditions based on historical, literary, systematic and empirical methods, both from an ‘insider’s perspective’ and by examining religion and ideology as a social, historical and cultural phenomenon. In the Netherlands, the domain is organised by the NOSTER research school.
Target groups
In the Netherlands, the domain of Theology and Religious Studies is international in orientation. In addition, scholars maintain close ties with professionals whose work involves practical theology, ethics and public theology. Researchers communicate with professional communities and interested members of the general public through individual specialist and popular journals and through books covering developments in religion, theological issues and normative and ethical questions.
Products and communication
- Academic publications often take the form of books and (essays in) edited volumes, in both Dutch and international journals. Particularly in empirical research, following the social sciences, co-publications occur.
- International publications tend to be in English. Many publications also appear in Dutch, however. These include hybrid publications intended for professional/academic and general readers. Other relevant publication languages are German, French and Italian.
- Review processes are important in national and especially international publications, predominantly in the form of (blind) peer review, but also by editorial review. This applies to articles in journals, to contributions to collections, and to books.
Processes and strategies
- Cooperation and communication with professionals.
- The most common type of publication is the ‘single-authored publication’.
Domain-specific aspects of quality and relevance
For some subdiscipline contributions to theological, philosophical and ethical practices are important.
Relevance of quantitative indicators for use and marks of recognition
Bibliometric indicators such as citation analyses are not useful, even if based on Google Scholar. That is because many of the publication channels are not indexed and because reference practices are too diverse.