Art studies, as an academic discipline, is an under-researched topic, especially with reference to science evaluation. Yet, it is a particularly interesting field to study given that it does not easily fit into the 'science' category. Our analysis centres on the core element of the evaluation system: scientific journals in the field of arts. We compare the rank of the journals with their disciplinary coverage and methodological orientation, to identify what kind of research approaches are most encouraged by the system of research funding. Our results show that journals in the field of arts have higher odds of being highly ranked if (1) their scope is diversified and combines art studies with explanatory sciences and (2) they publish empirically oriented research on the arts. Our findings suggest that the analysis of research evaluation systems should take into account not only interdisciplinary differences but also differences between particular types of research (within a given discipline).