Switch to English ‘risks social relevance’ of European humanities

According to Gunnar Sivertsen, "in Norway, the proportion of humanities papers published in Norwegian has slumped from around 65 per cent in 2005 to less than 40 per cent by 2014".

 

"If the current trend continues so that no research is published in Norwegian, 'I think we will lose our societal relevance, even with translations'".

 

"But the problem was not simply that the Norwegian public could not understand English papers. 'Most Norwegians read English, no problem,'" Sivertsen said. “'it is that in the main Norwegian social science journals, or in the main Norwegian history journal, you can publish on other types of research than you present internationally'”.