This dataset contains the ninth edition (publication years 2008-2017) of the Flemish Academic Bibliography for the Social Sciences and Humanities (VABB-SHW), a database of academic publications from the social sciences and humanities authored by researchers affiliated to Flemish universities. Publications in the database are used as one of the parameters of the Flemish performance-based research funding system. Only approved publications (i.e., publications that adhere to all criteria from the BOF decree and contribute to the funding allocation) are included in this dataset. In addition to the actual data files (*.csv), the data set contains an extensive code book (VABB-SHW codebook IX.pdf) and an R script with which the tables can be merged (vabbshw_merge.R; see the code book for details).