An analysis of the changing publication patterns in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in the period 2000-2009 is presented on the basis of the VABB-SHW, a full coverage database of peer reviewed publication output in SSH developed for the region of Flanders, Belgium. Data collection took place as part of the Flemish performance-based funding system for university research. The development of the database is described and an overview of its contents presented.In terms of coverage of publications by the Web of Science we observe considerable differences across disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The overall growth rate in number of publications is over 62.1%, but varies across disciplines between 7.5% and 172.9%. Publication output grew faster in the social sciences than in the humanities. A steady increase in the number and the proportion of publications in English is observed, going hand in hand with a decline in publishing in Dutch and other languages. However, no overall shift away from book publishing is observed. In the humanities, the share of book publications even seems to be increasing. The study shows that additional full coverage regional databases are needed to be able to characterise publication output in the social sciences and humanities.

This study investigates patterns in the language and type of social sciences and humanities (SSH) publications in non-English speaking European countries to demonstrate that such patterns are related not only to discipline but also to each country's cultural and historic heritage. We investigate publication patterns that occur across SSH publications of the whole of the SSH and of economics and business, law, and philosophy and theology publications in the Czech Republic,

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