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<p>The emphasis placed by national evaluation systems on a shared lingua franca as essential for global knowledge exchange simultaneously exerts pressure on social sciences and humanities (SSH) research, which is inherently rooted in local and regional contexts. China’s recent tenure-track reform exemplifies this systemic realignment. Drawing on a 15-year panel dataset of administrative records and publication output from 76 Ministry of Education–affiliated universities, this study assesses the association between tenure‐track reform and SSH research. Findings indicate that while tenure‐track policies have been associated with a substantial rise in SSCI- and A&amp;HCI- indexed publications by Chinese SSH scholars, they have concurrently depressed the volume of articles in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) and citation impact of SSCI- and A&amp;HCI- indexed publications. Notably, this dual effect reflects both the formal international‐publication mandates of tenure‐track policies and the preferential weighting of English‐language journal articles in tenure and promotion reviews. In tenure-track systems, publications in international journals function as high-value “academic currency,” offering greater global recognition and liquidity than domestic outlets; consequently, Chinese SSH scholars appear to strategically convert this currency by prioritizing international venues to maximize the visibility and scholarly influence of their work within the fixed tenure window. As tenure-track models proliferate, non–English-speaking countries must carefully balance the drive toward internationalization with the preservation of locally rooted SSH scholarship in their evaluation policies.</p>

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Conversion of international academic currency: The impact of tenure-track reform on academic research of Social Sciences and humanities in China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月2日

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  • Xiao Liu,
  • Jiaqi Jin,
  • Xiaohua Zong

摘要

The emphasis placed by national evaluation systems on a shared lingua franca as essential for global knowledge exchange simultaneously exerts pressure on social sciences and humanities (SSH) research, which is inherently rooted in local and regional contexts. China’s recent tenure-track reform exemplifies this systemic realignment. Drawing on a 15-year panel dataset of administrative records and publication output from 76 Ministry of Education–affiliated universities, this study assesses the association between tenure‐track reform and SSH research. Findings indicate that while tenure‐track policies have been associated with a substantial rise in SSCI- and A&HCI- indexed publications by Chinese SSH scholars, they have concurrently depressed the volume of articles in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) and citation impact of SSCI- and A&HCI- indexed publications. Notably, this dual effect reflects both the formal international‐publication mandates of tenure‐track policies and the preferential weighting of English‐language journal articles in tenure and promotion reviews. In tenure-track systems, publications in international journals function as high-value “academic currency,” offering greater global recognition and liquidity than domestic outlets; consequently, Chinese SSH scholars appear to strategically convert this currency by prioritizing international venues to maximize the visibility and scholarly influence of their work within the fixed tenure window. As tenure-track models proliferate, non–English-speaking countries must carefully balance the drive toward internationalization with the preservation of locally rooted SSH scholarship in their evaluation policies.