Multilingual publishing in the SSH in Poland and attitudes towards English

This dataset contains responses to a self-constructed questionnaire that was designed to provide the following information: What languages are used for research dissemination in various SSH disciplines in Poland? What are the main languages of the research cited by authors in these disciplines? When languages other than Polish are used for research dissemination, are the results published in national or international venues? What are the prevailing reasons for language choices? What is the position of English in SSH disciplines in Poland? What is the attitude of Polish SSH scholars towards the dominance of English as the international language of science?

The questionnaire was written in Polish and consisted of 52 items arranged in three thematic lines: multilingual publication practices, the role of English in research dissemination, and attitudes to English as the global language of science.

The data were collected in an online survey based on Google Forms. The link to the questionnaire was distributed via email among scholars affiliated with the social sciences and humanities units of 20 Polish universities which took part in the Excellence Initiative – Research University competition, a funding programme launched in 2019 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (https://www.gov.pl/web/science/the-excellence-initiative---research-university-programme).

Time of data collection: 12 October 2020–16 November 2020.

Volume of data and the response rate: 12,100 emails sent; 1,575 completed forms received (response rate about 13%); 50 forms removed (contradictory or random responses; this dataset is limited to speakers of Polish as the first language).

The classification of fields and disciplines follows Polish regulations in force at the time of the study (Regulation of the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education of 20 September 2018 on Classification of fields and disciplines of science and disciplines of the arts; Journal of Laws 2018, item 1818). Compared to the OECD classification, the main points of difference involve the status of history and archaeology, linguistics and literary studies, and economics and management as separate disciplines.

The data collection was not funded by any external source.