Humanistika kot najbolj samosvoja znanstvena veda je v dobi kvantitativnih in drugih »objektivnih« analiz pogosto obravnavana kot problematična in ne dovolj znanstvena. Prilagoditve nekaterih raziskovalcev vsakokratnemu kvantitativnemu sistemu evalvacije pa kažejo, kako previdni moramo biti z numeričnimi meritvami, da ne prinesejo povsem nasprotnih rezultatov od želenih; da se ne nagrajuje spretnih namesto dobrih raziskovalcev. V slovenski družbi je humanistika po letu 1945 izgubljala na družbenem pomenu in bila v primerjavi z naravoslovjem dojeta kot precej nepotrebna ali zgolj nacional(istič)no uporabna. Takšna dediščina v ideološko in kapitalsko zaostrenih časih zagotovo ne more biti potencial, ki bi omogočal kvalitetno, poglobljeno in mednarodno primerljivo znanost; zlasti ker vrhunske kvalitete in družbeno pomembnih rezultatov v humanistiki ni mogoče izmeriti s faktorji vpliva (ameriških) revij, citati in pridobljenimi finančnimi sredstvi. S slovenskim humanističnim raziskovanjem bi bili težko izjemno zadovoljni, a veliko je tudi odličnih raziskovalcev in programskih skupin. Do višje kvalitete nasploh pa bo mogoče priti le s stabilnim dolgoročnim sistemom financiranja, ki bo omogočil poglobljeno delo in izločil marsikaj, kar trenutno v družbi velja za vrednoto.

Slovenska humanistika je po (precej specifični) klasifikaciji razdeljena na 12 področij: arheologijo, antropologijo, etnologijo, filozofijo, geografijo s krasoslovjem, jezikoslovje, kulturologijo, literarne vede, muzikologijo, teologijo, umetnostno zgodovino in zgodovinopisje. Med njene temeljne naloge sodi raziskovanje in razumevanje preteklosti, jezikov, besedne, glasbene in likovne umetnosti. To poteka s sistematičnim dolgoročnim delom, ki mora praviloma temeljiti na dobro organiziranih institucijah z ustreznimi infrastrukturnimi pogoji. Raznovrstnost in hkrati povezanost strok dajeta obilo možnosti za plodne interdisciplinarne in multidisciplinarne raziskave. Tudi od nadaljnjega dolgoročnega financiranja je odvisno, ali bo humanistično raziskovanje zmoglo ostati povezano z drugimi evropskimi državami; v številnih se v zadnjih letih sistematično vlaga v povezovanje nacionalnih humanističnih strok, kar naj bi pripeljalo do kvalitetnejšega življenja posameznikov in boljše družbe.

Predstavitve izjemnih dosežkov posameznih raziskovalnih področij za leto 2011, ki jih je organizirala Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost in si jih lahko ogledate na spletu, dajejo dober vpogled v trenutno stanje in predstavljajo izziv za naprej.

In the era of quantitative and other "objective" analyses, the humanities – as the most unique of the scientific disciplines – are often regarded as problematic and not "scientific" enough. However, the ability of some researchers to adapt to current quantitative systems of evaluation demonstrates how careful we should be with numerical evaluation to avoid results that could undermine our objectives, or to prevent them from rewarding skilful rather than competent researchers.

In Slovenia, the slide in the social significance of the humanities began in 1945. Compared with the natural sciences, they have been regarded as rather irrelevant or only national(istical)ly applicable. In these ideologically and financially critical times, such a tradition can certainly not be considered a solid foundation on which to develop high quality, in-depth and internationally comparable science. This is especially the case in the humanities, as top-quality and socially important results cannot be measured with impact factors based on (American) journal standards, citation indexes or approved financial means. Although the standard of Slovenian humanities research is perhaps not as high as it could be, there are many excellent researchers and programme teams. However, higher quality research results can only be attained by a stable long-term system of finance that will enable in-depth research and eliminate much of what society currently considers as a value.

Based on a rather specific classification, the humanities in Slovenia comprise 12 research fields: anthropology, archaeology, art history, culturology, ethnology, history, geography (with Karst research), linguistics, literary sciences, musicology, philosophy and theology. Their fundamental objectives include research and understanding of the past, languages, and literary- music- and fine arts. Research is carried out in the form of systematic long-term work, which, as a rule, should be based on well-organised institutions with a proper infrastructure. Versatility and, at the same time, interconnection of the disciplines offer numerous opportunities for a productive interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. Whether research in humanities will be able to keep pace with the research in other European countries also depends on further long-term financing. Numerous European countries invest systematically in networking of the national humanistic disciplines, which they anticipate will both increase the quality of life and result in a better society.
A presentation of the outstanding research results in individual research fields in the year 2011, which were organised by the Slovenian Research Agency and are available online, provides a clear insight into the current state of research and represents a challenge for the future.