On the Periphery of the European Social Sciences—A Scientometric Analysis of Publication Performance, Excellence, and Internal Bias in Social Sciences in the Visegrad Countries

Péter Sasvári () and Gergely Ferenc Lendvai
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Péter Sasvári: Faculty of Public Governance and International Studies, Ludovika University of Public Service, 1083 Budapest, Hungary
Gergely Ferenc Lendvai: Faculty of Law, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, 1088 Budapest, Hungary

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: This study examines the publication performance of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia across 24 social science disciplines indexed by Scopus from 2019 to 2023. Using data from Scopus, SciVal, and Scimago, we analyzed regional journal statuses, disciplinary backlogs, journal biases, and publication excellence. Our results show that Poland and the Czech Republic lead in journal and publication counts, whereas Hungary and Slovakia lag behind significantly. Four disciplines—e-learning, human factors and ergonomics, life-span and life-course studies, and social work—had minimal or no publications, highlighting their marginalization. We found a high internal bias in publication practices, notably in Poland and Hungary, which raises concerns considering the Norwegian list standards. While Poland and the Czech Republic show a higher proportion of excellent publications, the overall number of high-quality articles remains low, and publications by the Big Five publishers are exceedingly limited. This analysis underscores the need for strategic policy interventions to enhance research quality and international collaboration to improve the scientific standing of the Visegrad countries.

Keywords: publication performance; social sciences; science metrics; scientific excellence; Visegrad countries; internal bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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