Characteristics of research output in social sciences and humanities: From a research evaluation perspective

The goal of research evaluation is to reveal the achievement and progress of research. Research output offers a basis for empirical evaluation. A fair and just research evaluation should take into account the diversity of research output across disciplines and include all major forms of research publications. This article reviews the literature on the nature of research output in social sciences and humanities in terms of the characteristics of research publications, and then discusses the implications for the research evaluation of social sciences and humanities researchers.