With the RJ Sabbatical, lecturers and professors in the humanities and social sciences have the opportunity to complete research, and at the same time spend at least one month abroad. The support includes applications that will result in individual journal articles as well as in monographs. The purpose of the support is also to strengthen Swedish research and education's international contacts by providing the opportunity to stay abroad for a period.

During the research period of between six and twelve months, the researchers can concentrate solely on their own research, and put everything else aside, with the exception of supervising doctoral students. The RJ Sabbatical offers researchers the opportunity to prioritize research over other tasks for a limited time. As research often has to take a back seat to administrative tasks and teaching, this opens up an opportunity to complete previously funded research so that it becomes available to other researchers and society at large. The hope is that the researchers will contribute to international scientific contacts and collaborations at the home institution for a longer period of time after completing the RJ Sabbatical.