Kulanić: Bosnia and the Question of Social Sciences and Humanities

By: Ahmed Kulanić, PhD

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Research in the social sciences and humanities is difficult to evaluate quantitatively, as is measuring the impact of research achievements within them, considering the fact and challenges in understanding, conceptualizing, and directing the totality of social phenomena as such.

The basic task of both the social sciences and humanities, as well as other scientific disciplines, should be viewed through their actual contribution to real life and their impact on both the society in which they arise and the entire human community, and not through their quantification by the sum of citations in certain scientific databases, indexes, and search engines. Certainly, citation count should not be excluded as one indicator of the relevance of scientific work, but it can never (at least in the social sciences) be and must not be primary for evaluating scientific contribution within them. Social impact factor can never be viewed uniformly and one-dimensionally, which is attempted by reducing it to the citation count of a particular study in this regard.

There are numerous examples of projects in which both governmental and non-governmental funds contain indicators of “social impact” for which almost no one has prescribed relevant metric characteristics or rules and criteria for their evaluation, as they differ greatly depending on the project, society, and approach. Furthermore, for social science projects, “broader (additional) impact” is also cited as a criterion for assessing project relevance without defining specific indicators for measuring them. 

The fact is, actually, that in the social disciplines, “discoveries” and “achievements” do not change in a short period and do not require “urgency” in their publication, unlike the natural sciences. On the contrary, the real impact of scientific research in the social sciences and humanities can only be relevantly evaluated from a certain temporal distance and with an understanding of the broader social context and circumstances. Therefore, in the social sciences and humanities, quality almost always takes precedence over quantity, although today we witness that under the influence of new trends within the academic community, this process is gradually being changed. 

Furthermore, researchers in the social sciences and humanities largely publish their scientific works within books (as chapters or the books themselves), rather than in scientific journals, which represents an additional challenge for citation databases, indexes, and search engines because a large number of books are not even found or indexed within them. Also, this type of publication is additionally complex for citation databases, indexes, and search engines because their very inclusion occurs very slowly, which ultimately delays the process of quantifying their citation count. This is particularly important to highlight because most search engines “measure” the impact of publications within a limited time interval – the last few years.

To a large extent, the focus of the social sciences and humanities is primarily tied and framed to the territory in which they arise and the space to which they are linked, with the basic goal of improving the situation within it. In this regard, numerous articles are written with the aim of shedding light on key events and processes within society that may not necessarily be of interest to the global academic community, but are of crucial and vital importance for both the society and the state in which they arise. Therefore, within the existing framework and the frameworks that are imposed, priority is given to primary effects over real impacts. In this respect, the question is open: how to quantify and evaluate the impact of social science work that has contributed to the improvement of state policies in a certain respect, or legal debates that have contributed to a change in the law?

Furthermore, unlike the natural sciences, in the social sciences, articles as well as books often have a small number of authors, which stands as one of the main characteristics of social science publications. In this regard, if we wish to insist on the “quantification” of scientific contribution, one of the imperatives is a shift in the focus of quantification from “document” to “person/author.” The document (scientific article) in this sense is merely a product; it is the authors who make the research useful and applicable. In this sense, the scientific achievements of individuals (which is largely the focus of education laws) would become more visible and valued, unlike the current approach to which numerous search engines are adapted to evaluate the document in relation to its author. 

In the Bosnian-Herzegovinian context, especially in the field of social sciences and humanities, a new approach is needed in assessing the relevance of both scientific journals and books, with the aim of raising the overall relevance of the scientific contribution of these fields. In this regard, first of all, it is necessary to create a unique online scientific access center for all relevant publications of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian academic community (scientific journals, books), similar to solutions in the region and the world.

Thus, the establishment of an electronic catalog, portal, database of scientific articles of Bosnian-Herzegovinian publications and publishers. Furthermore, it is necessary to find a modality for establishing the Bosnian Citation Index (BCI), which would greatly define and improve research and achievements in the social sciences and their relevance within both the domestic and international academic communities. 
Primary research and research projects, even in the social sciences, require certain (sometimes “large”) financial resources. Funding relevant projects and establishing a Fund for Research in the Social Sciences is a pressing need for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will enable the development, progress, and relevance of researchers in the social sciences and humanities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Such an approach to funding science will greatly enable the acquisition of new knowledge and skills in leading scientific projects, especially among younger researchers, which would ultimately make them more relevant and competitive on the international stage.  

Also, the social sciences have been largely neglected in the policies implemented so far in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is evident from the fact that the largest university in Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an Institute for Social Research as a separate organizational unit, unlike relevant universities in the region and beyond. In this regard, the existence of faculties is insufficient because the teaching load at them does not leave enough room for serious scientific research work.         

And finally, to understand the overall effect of every scientific work, especially those in the field of social sciences, we must think about a new approach and criteria for measuring “impact” that would encompass both academic and social, public, and state contributions. Only an integral approach, comprehensive criteria, and above all real and actual contribution must become the basis for assessing academic excellence.