University reform and the development of social sciences in Indonesia

•State-led university reforms have led to a new dawn of social sciences in Indonesia.•Social sciences should extend rather than merely apply Western theories.•Such academic shifts will engender the rise of strong social sciences in Indonesia. Much has been studied regarding university reforms and their impacts on scientific development worldwide. This paper aims to enrich current perspectives on university reform by developing a distinct concept of social science development in the context of the emergence of academic social sciences in Indonesia. Using a bibliometric method, this paper finds a significant increase in the volume of international scientific publications focusing on socio-economic and political issues. However, two issues that presently color the landscape of social scientific publications are the bifurcation of academic dependencies and limited extension of Western social theories. The future of the social sciences in Indonesia will be determined by interrelationships between the state, universities, and networks of academics who can address the former issue and ensure that academics publish in mainstream international journals emphasizing the prominence of the latter. In doing so, the social sciences will have the potential to improve future university teaching and engagement in public policymaking in Indonesia.