Abstract：In the context of the new liberal arts, the development of philosophy and social sciences is expected to combine historical inheritance with contemporary innovation, and focus on the construction of independent knowledge systems. This article innovatively proposes an evaluation index system of historical discipline competitiveness from four dimensions: research productivity, research influence, research development power, and international cooperation power, based on the comprehensive exploration of existing evaluation indicators of discipline competitiveness and drawing on internationally recognized indicators, combined with the characteristics of humanities and scientific research achievements. Ten universities in China and the United States from 2014 to 2023 have been selected to analyze their research competitiveness in four dimensions and development trends: publication scale, total citations, subject normalized citation influence, top 10% journal publication and proportion, and number and proportion of international cooperative papers.
In terms of productivity research, the publication scale of American universities is significantly higher than that of Chinese universities, but the annual publication quantity of Chinese universities has significantly increased, with a growth rate significantly higher than that of American universities. In terms of research influence dimension, American universities and Chinese universities each have their own advantages in performance. American universities perform better than Chinese universities in terms of total citation frequency and the top 10% of high citations, but Chinese universities perform better than American universities in terms of the 10% proportion of high citations in the top 10%. The FWCI values of 10 universities in China and the United States are all higher than the global average, and there is not much difference between Chinese and American universities. The trend of research influence in Chinese universities has shown excellent performance, with the number of highly cited TOP10% papers and the proportion of highly cited TOP10% papers showing continuous growth, with a significant growth rate. The level of influence of the two is constantly approaching. In terms of research development and trend dimensions, American universities still maintain significant advantages, but the proportion of top journals in Chinese universities is outstanding, and historical research in Chinese universities shows better development potential. From the perspective of international cooperation strength and development trends, the number of international cooperation papers by American universities is significantly higher than that of Chinese universities. However, the top three universities in terms of international cooperation papers are all Chinese universities, indicating that Chinese universities have a significant advantage in international cooperation competitiveness. In terms of development trend, the proportion of international cooperative papers in American universities has remained stable in the past 10 years, while the proportion of international cooperative papers in Chinese universities has fluctuated significantly in the past 10 years, with a slight decrease in the past 3 years, which is worth paying attention to. To some extent, it indicates that Chinese universities have higher research quality and relatively balanced overall research influence.
It is recommended that Chinese universities increase research investment in research productivity, increase funding support for historical research, strengthen the introduction and cultivation of historical talents, improve overall research capabilities, and strive for excellence in research influence. They should identify their own characteristics and advantages, promote interdisciplinary and integration, and foster new academic growth points. In terms of research development dimension, continuous innovation in research fields and methods has promoted the in-depth development of historical research. Importance should be attached to strengthening international cooperation and exchange in the dimension of international cooperation, introducing international resources, establishing international cooperation mechanisms, and paying more attention to the combination of Chinese characteristics and international standards.
