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Profiles of monograph authors in the social sciences and humanities: an analysis of productivity, career stage, co-authorship, disciplinary affiliation and gender, based on a regional bibliographic database

Scientometrics volume 111, pages 1673–1686 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Scholarly monograph authors are compared to other authors, based on bibliographic data registered in the VABB-SHW database from Flanders (Belgium). Monograph authors are found to be most often established male researchers with high productivity, who are relatively less involved in research collaboration (co-authored publications) than are other authors. There exists a clear divergence between most of the individual social science disciplines, where monograph authors make up a marginal share of all authors, and several humanities disciplines where shares are up to one fifth. Relatively more female and non-established authors publish monographs in the humanities compared to the social sciences. A statistical comparison of productivity points to diverging publication patterns in Flemish SSH research: the group of most productive authors counts both monograph authors who also rely on other book publication types, and other authors who publish mostly journal articles.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Tim Engels, Raf Guns and Ronald Rousseau for their helpful comments and suggestions. The Centre for R&D monitoring (ECOOM) is funded by the Flemish government.

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  1. Centre for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Middelheimlaan 1, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Frederik T. Verleysen & Truyken L. B. Ossenblok

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  1. Frederik T. Verleysen
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  2. Truyken L. B. Ossenblok
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Correspondence to Frederik T. Verleysen.

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Verleysen, F.T., Ossenblok, T.L.B. Profiles of monograph authors in the social sciences and humanities: an analysis of productivity, career stage, co-authorship, disciplinary affiliation and gender, based on a regional bibliographic database. Scientometrics 111, 1673–1686 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2312-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2312-3

Keywords

  • Social sciences and humanities
  • Books
  • Disciplinary affiliation
  • Career-stage
  • Gender
  • Co-authorship
  • Productivity