Crossing disciplinary borders: how Italian SSH journal rankings address multidisciplinarity

The classification of Italian academic journals in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), carried out by ANVUR (the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes), plays a critical role in evaluating research output and shaping academic careers. However, the extent to which this classification adequately accounts for multidisciplinarity—a fundamental aspect of addressing complex societal challenges—remains underexplored. AQ1 By analysing the Italian classification framework and reviewing journal profiles, we identify systemic biases, disciplinary boundaries, and structural constraints that may hinder the integration of crossdisciplinary scholarship in the Italian academic landscape. Our findings reveal a partial and inconsistent consideration of this dimension, highlighting both recent advancements and persistent limitations in fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration among researchers. This study contributes to the ongoing debate on research evaluation in SSH, offering recommendations to improve classification systems so that they better align with the evolving nature of scholarly inquiry, societal needs, and global research trends.