Quality indicators for research in the humanities

Abstract

The Academy has installed a special committee to develop a system of quality indicators for the humanities. There is a need in the humanities for a coherent system of quality indicators. In assessing the quality of research, assessors use instruments that are not tailored to the humanities. For example, citation indices only count articles, and not books, and only English-language publications. Neither are contributions to public debate taken into account in determining quality. At the request of the Cohen Committee on the National Plan for the Future of the Humanities, the Academy will join with researchers in the field and users of research data in the humanities (such as the NWO) to design a simple and effective system of quality indicators.