Research efficiency evaluation and regional differences analysis of humanities and social sciences of colleges and universities in China

Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) play a key role for deepening human understanding and transforming the world, providing essential value orientation for the advancement of natural sciences. Evaluating the efficiency of HSS in higher education institutions is crucial for optimizing the distribution of research resources and improving scientific research efficiency. By utilizing statistical data from HSS in colleges and universities across 31 provinces (municipalities, regions) of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2017 to 2020, this study employs the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist models to assess both the static and dynamic scientific research efficiencies. Additionally, the Theil index is used to examine regional differences. The findings reveal that: (1) HSS in colleges and universities exhibit relatively high static efficiency, with the Malmquist index indicating a general trend of improvement primarily driven by efficiency change (EC); (2) colleges and universities in China’s central region display higher static efficiency than those in the western region, yet they lack the internal driving forces for fostering research efficiency; (3) an analysis of static and dynamic efficiencies via the Theil index shows widening regional differences, with within-group differences being the main source of overall differences. The above results imply that each region should adopt different countermeasures to improve scientific research efficiency.