HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS AT FLEMISH UNIVERSITIES, 2000-2009

An analysis of recent data collected for the Flemish Academic Bibliographic Database for the Social Sciences and Humanities (Vlaams Academisch Bibliografisch Bestand voor de Sociale en Humane Wetenschappen - or VABB-SHW) offers insight into the publication culture of Flemish historians. This culture is distinguished by a considerable share of publications directed at academics and a non-scholarly audience alike, and this in spite of previous and current incentives for researchers to adhere to academic journals and monographs only. At present, historians in Flanders still attach great importance to publishing (in) books, choose to write in various languages besides Dutch and English, and regularly collaborate with colleagues who frequently belong to other academic (and sometimes non-academic) institutions. Publication output of Flemish historians - including articles but also book publications - is clearly on the rise. The share of Web of Science indexed publications also shows an increase, as does the number of publications written in English. Combined, this illustrates the ongoing internationalization of Flemish academic historical research. Presently, about one third of the nearly four thousand historical bibliographic references submitted by the universities are approved for inclusion in the VABB. Compared to the total publication output the relative weight of journal articles within the VABB is far more considerable. This is primarily caused by the rejection of most Flemish and Dutch book publishers for inclusion in the VABB, given their lack of a verifiable peer review procedure. New initiatives like the recent Guaranteed Peer Reviewed Content label should in principle alleviate this current state of affairs.