International collaboration contributes significantly to improving scientific performance in Vietnam, but it also results in Vietnamese researchers depending on foreign partners to get their work published. The current study is an initial effort to examine the domestic research capability of Vietnam’s Social Science and Humanities (SSH) disciplines through scientific productivity. The research focuses on investigating various aspects, including leading Vietnamese authors, solo authors, and gender difference, as well as international and domestic collaboration networks. The study extracts the data of 2040 Vietnamese SSH authors, 1981 foreign authors, and 3160 publications during the period of 2008–2019, from the exclusive Social Sciences and Humanities Peer Awards (SSHPA) database. Findings show a steadily rising contribution from leading domestic authors in SSH research, with an annual growth rate of approximately 22.33%. Moreover, 77.26% of publications are led by Vietnamese researchers. The proportion of publications by Vietnamese authors increased dramatically and surpassed the proportion of internationally collaborated publications in 2019, at 55.83%. The domestic research collaboration network has expanded in an observable manner. However, the participation rate of women in SSH research was relatively low, at an average of 37.30%. While the self-sustaining capacity of SSH researchers and institutes in Vietnam has been rising, gender inequality remains prevalent. In order to further strengthen and promote the scholarly community, as well as their research capacity, and to maintain public trust in SSH research, we recommend that policymakers encourage self-sustaining research, nationwide collaboration, and empower female researchers.

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