Eastern Europe's Research Gamble: The Czech Perspective

Quantifying the relative performance of individual scholars has become an integral part of decision-making in research policy. The objective of the present study was to evaluate if the scholarship rank of Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) researchers in Medicine is consistent with their scientific productivity. The Lattes curricula of 411 researchers (2006–2008) were included in the study. Scholarship category was the variable of interest. Other variables analyzed were: time since receiving the doctorate, teaching activity (undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students), number of articles published, and number of papers indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and Scopus databases. Additional performance indicators included were: citations, h-index, and m-index. There was a significant difference among scholarship categories regarding number of papers per year, considering the entire scientific career (P < 0.001) or the last 5 years (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference among scholarship categories regarding the number of citations per article in the ISI (Thomson Reuters) database (P = 0.23). There was a significant difference in h-index among scholarship categories in both databases, i.e. (P < 0.001) and Scopus (P < 0.001). Regarding the m-index, there was a significant difference among categories only in the ISI database (P = 0.012). According to our findings, a better instrument for qualitative and quantitative indicators is needed to identify researchers with outstanding scientific output.

The credibility crisis in the U.S. capital market arising from various accounting scandals resulted in the publication of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in July 2002, focused on defining a set of rules in order to certify the accuracy of accounting information. Since SOX is directly reflected in financial statements, it should be took as a subject of investigation by various researchers. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the SOX studies published in accounting journals contained in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) database on the list of journals with impact factor. Was selected eight accounting journals listed in ISI database on the list of journals with impact factor. The search included the period from 2002 to 2010 and reached a total of 23 papers in five journals. The research found that there is a concentration of publications related to SOX in the Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting & Economics and The Accounting Review. We found some homogeneity in the publications regardind the period and a group of six authors stood out from a total of 55 authors. From the 35 universities linked to the papers, 7 institutions deserve special mention in relation to the number of published researches. Internal control has been the most mentioned topic in the papers, including perspectives relating to internal control weaknesses, cost of equity, stock prices, quality of accruals and qualification and turnover of Chief Financial Officers.

This paper deals with the influence of air accidents on legislation in civil aviation in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. Firstly, it focuses on defining essential terms, organizations, laws, and regulations which are affecting air accidents investigation. All these elements are based on the aviation regulation L13 (ANNEX 13). Then it deals with detailed analysis of chosen air accidents that happened in Czech or Slovak Republic. As a result of previous research have been defined categories of the most common causes of air accidents between the year 2016 and 2020 which occurred in Czech and Slovak Republic and created their classification. The main goal of the paper was to identify new legislation measures and changes, which have been propounded or adopted to prevent another air accidents with the same or similar causes in the future. Among those regulations belongs for example area 100 KSA, AUPRT or background checks. Lastly it deals with the upcoming legislation changes affecting civil aviation in Slovak Republic.

This study aims to identify the differences in the use of HPV vaccination between female medical students in the Czech and Slovak Republics and their possible causes. We performed a cross-sectional survey among female students of general medicine in all faculties of medicine in the Czech and Slovak Republics. We obtained 630 questionnaires from the Czech Republic and 776 questionnaires from the Slovak Republic. In the Czech Republic, 65.4% of female medical students underwent HPV vaccination, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 21.1%. In the Czech Republic, residency and religion of students did not influence their rate of vaccination. However, in the Slovak Republic, village residency with less than 5,000 inhabitants lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.56 (95% CI: 0.38-0.84), and the Catholic religion lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.28-0.57). Czech students were informed about the possibility of vaccination by a paediatrician in 55.7% of cases, while the figure for Slovak students was 26.8%. In the Czech Republic, 75.7% of students participated in regular cervical oncologic screening, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 57.7%. Vaccination of relatives would be recommended by 86.5% and 80.5% of Czech and Slovak students, respectively. The adoption of an oncologic prevention programme and the more extensive propagation by paediatricians are probably the medical reasons for the higher HPV vaccination among Czech students. Demographic factors - village residency and religion - are also important.

In this paper we provide a new list of all the mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. This work is a supplement of the Ložek’s key on molluscs of the former Czechoslovakia. For the species recorded after the publishing of the book, publications of their first records in the Czech and Slovak Republics are given. Species which are either not included in this Ložek’s book or whose current taxonomical status highly differs from that published in the book are supplied with Czech commentaries, photographs of their shells or bodies, and drawings of important identification characters. This material is aimed at Czech and Slovak malacologists to provide information, missing or scattered in the literature, on currently known mo­llusc fauna of the Czech and Slovak Republics. The Ložek’s book and this supplement should provide necessary information on identification, ecology and also distribution of all mollusc species currently known from the Czech and Slovak Republics. If the species names used in this paper differ from the ones used in the Ložek’s book, we mention both. So far 247 species of molluscs, including 219 species of gastropods (50 aquatic and 169 terrestrial) and 28 species of bivalves, have been found outdoors in the Czech Republic. The fauna of Slovakia comprises 247 species, including 219 gastropods (51 aquatic and 168 terrestrial) and 28 bivalves. Altogether 282 species occur in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 212 of them being common to both countries.

This article is focused on the real estate tax in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Different approaches to the tax are applied (determination of construction elements and tax collection method) in both states, hence the reason for conducting research in these states. Many researchers deal with real estate taxes from the perspective of municipalities or states. The motivation for this research was finding solutions for real estate tax reform in the Czech Republic from the perspective of taxpayers. 1352 questionnaires were evaluated (839 from the Czech Republic and 513 from the Slovak Republic). The tax justification was reviewed with regard to investing the revenues from real estate tax into improving the life of citizens in the municipality. The questionnaire using was assessed within the descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Pearson chi-square test. Based on empirical research, the median real estate tax is lower in the Czech Republic when compared to Slovakia. Nevertheless, the percentage of respondents who perceive the tax burden as high is 3.3% higher in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia. The perception of tax justice varies. Respondents in the Czech Republic perceive less improvement in their municipal infrastructure. Conversely, almost half of the respondents from Slovakia mentioned improvements in infrastructure in the municipality. The majority of respondents in both countries knew how collected funds are utilized and what specific projects were carried out in their respective municipalities.

Objective: To determine if the application of guidelines for obstetrical anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) management adopted by professional society in a country improves healthcare compared to a country where the guidelines are not adopted. Materials and Methods: In 2008 and 2016, a questionnaire was sent to every maternity ward in the Czech and Slovak Republics. In 2011, the guidelines for OASIS management were published in the Czech Republic. The authors compared the changes in the management of OASIS in both countries and evaluated the effect of the guidelines on healthcare improvement. Results: In 2008, the current Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) classification of OASIS was not used by any hospital in both countries. In 2016, the classification was used by 48.8% of hospitals in the Czech Republic and by 11.5% of hospitals in the Slovak Republic. The percentage of hospitals in the Czech Republic which used antibiotic prophylaxis while treating OASIS increased from 87.3% in 2008 to 100% in 2016. In the Slovak Republic, the percentage decreased from 85.7% to 73.1%. Active follow-up increased in the Czech Republic from 40% to 70.8%. In the Slovak Republic, it increased from 33.3% to 38.5%. In 2008, the management according to EBM was not performed by any of centres participating in the survey. In 2016, this percentage increased to 34.1% in the Czech Republic and to 3.8% in the Slovak Republic. Conclusion: The introduction of guidelines improved healthcare more significantly compared to the country where guidelines are not yet adopted.

BackgroundThe prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing, and with it comes the demand for specialized services. Current information on the institutionalization of patients with AD is limited.ObjectiveTo determine the level of institutionalization among AD patients in the facilities of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.MethodsA survey of the rate of institutionalization in facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The survey collects data on the institutionalization of patients suffering from AD in relation to the capacity of the facilities and the prevalence of the disease. Data were collected by representative quantitative survey, during years 2019-2021.ResultsPatients with AD occupy approximately 25% of the total capacities of institutions in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The rate of institutionalization of patients with AD is estimated at 20.5% in the Czech Republic and 24% in the Slovak Republic. This is more than the estimated worldwide rate of institutionalization of people with AD (16%) but less than the estimated rate of institutionalization of these patients in high-income countries (31%).ConclusionsAs the prevalence of AD increases, so do the demands for care. If there is no increase in institutional capacity, this growth will put more pressure on home care. In order to provide specialized care to as many patients as possible, emphasis must be placed on increasing the capacity of institutions.

In this study, we examine the scientific output of Brazilian psychiatry, based on the databaseof the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), publications in the 10 most important psychiatricjournals, and publications in major Brazilian journals. The number of Brazilian publications (i.e.,those carrying at least one Brazilian address) in psychiatry in the ISI database increased by 168%during the 15-year period under study (1981-1995) . Despite this growth, the relative contributionof publications in psychiatry to the country's publications in medical sciences did not change overthe 15-year period. This fraction, around 2%, remained at less than one-third of the averagecontribution of psychiatry journals to publications in medicine worldwide. The impact inferredfrom number of citations (1981-1992) shows that Brazilian articles in psychiatry were cited lessthan the world average in this field. In the 10 psychiatry journals with the highest impact,Brazilian authors published only 48 articles in the 1981-1995 period, representing only 0.2% ofthe articles in those journals. Like their American and British counterparts, Brazilian psychiatristsalso published primarily in domestic journals: 87.1% of the publications by Brazilians appeared inthe two major Brazilian psychiatric journals, compared with only 12.9% in foreign journals.Among publications in psychiatry in the ISI database, the number of articles co-authored byBrazilians with scientists from other countries increased 12.3 fold from 1981-1985 to 1991-1995,representing at the end 50% of all publications by Brazilian psychiatrists in international journals.Despite all cuts in funding for Brazilian science during the last decades, all of the articles in oursample originated in public universities, and only 10 universities were responsible for ∼70% of thepublications by Brazilian psychiatrists in our survey period. We conclude that Brazilianpsychiatric research is a subject worthy of particular concern, especially if we take into accountthe country's modest scientific performance and the socio-economic consequences of mentaldisorders in the Brazilian population.

The JID Legacy Project: Introspecting on Our Past

The front page of the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (Brazilian Archives of Cardiology) discloses an objective view of the current representativeness of the journal1: “With over 60 years of existence, the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (Arq Bras Cardiol) is the official scientific publication of Brazilian Society of Cardiology (BSC), serving as the main channel for the dissemination of Brazilian scientific research on cardiovascular sciences. Published in two languages and indexed in major international databases (ISI Web of Science; Cumulated Index Medicus — MEDLINE; EMBASE; SCOPUS; SCIELO and LILACS), Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia has an average impact factor of 1.1, according to Thompson Reuters. This rating puts our journal at a level that is similar to most journals indexed in ISI Web of Science in the field of Cardiology.” Considering the historical and academic significance of the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia, since its indexing in MEDLINE that started in 1950, some authors have assumed the hypothesis that the analysis of publications in the last 60 years could reflect the changing trends of heart disease in Brazil. The existence of an epidemiological link between cardiac diseases that are prevalent in Brazil and the publications of the Arquivos has been suggested. This evidence, associated with planning, publications and guideline updates, leaves no doubt about its crucial importance for Brazilian Cardiology2-4. Regarding the evaluation of its impact, the announcement of the Arquivos’ first Impact Factor by the Journal of Citation Report of Thompson Reuters occurred in 2010. Since then, the values of this bibliometric index, documented by the Web of Science database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), have confirmed the degree of scientific relevance and the scope of studies carried out in Brazil, as well as those performed in international centers that have been published in our journal. The ratings place the Arquivos at the same level of approximately 30% of international journals indexed in the ISI database in the field of Cardiology. The Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia currently occupies position 95 among 125 journals listed by ISI with a positive impact factor in the field of cardiovascular diseases in 2014. Among these publications, only five have an impact factor greater than ten (4%); 17 (13.6%) between 5.04 and 7.44; 47 (37.6%) between 2.044 and 4.918; 35 (28%) between 1.965 and 1.018 and; 21 (16.8%) with an impact factor of 0.011 and 0.912. Individual analysis of the Arquivos by Web of Science currently discloses the following numbers: 3,383 indexed publications, with 2,509 original and review articles. Since 2003, these articles have received 7,365 citations (Figure 1), corresponding to a mean rate of 2.64 citations per ar ticle and an H index of 25. The number of self‑citations was 1,482, accounting for only 26.2% of the total. Among the ten most cited papers, the majority corresponds to guidelines and epidemiological data5-10. It is worth mentioning the presence of a single article on basic sciences11. The interesting thing is that these articles are not totally dependent on national citations. Figure 1 Number of original and review articles published and number of citations obtained by the same articles in the Web of Science database during the analyzed period. The relevance of the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia for Brazilian cardiology science can also be assessed through its position as the main vehicle for the dissemination of national research at international level. Of 1,581 original articles published by Brazilian authors and institutions between 2010 and 2012 in journals indexed in the Web of Science database, it is noteworthy the fact that 27% were published in the Arquivos, whereas 43% of these articles were published by journals with a higher impact factor, located at the upper strata of the CAPES Qualis classification (Figure 2). Figure 2 Percentage of original and review articles published by Brazilian authors and institutions, according to the Qualis-CAPES classification. ABC: Brazilian Archives of Cardiology Aiming to improve the quality of publications, the Editorial Board of the journal has adopted a certain degree of academic prioritization. Currently, 60% of the articles published in the Arquivos originate from academic studies at post-graduate level. Although greater receptivity has been observed from Post-Graduate Programs in Cardiology, unfortunately this decision has not reflected the positive variation of the Impact Factor in recent years, leading to the suggestion that the Brazilian academic community has not prioritized the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia as an option to have their best works published. However, we believe that this trend can be reversed, being one of the motivations of this editorial, seeking to encourage postgraduate programs to give higher priority to the Archives. Finally, there is a clear need for greater participation in the area of Basic Science and applied research in Cardiology, as well as the publication of a greater number of controlled clinical trials and meta-analyses in our journal.

The agricultural sector in the Czech and Slovak Republic has problems in big and also in small farms. The pa- per is based on the assumption of the family farm algorithm, which is focused on the plant production. A family farm is represented by two adults and two children. The aim is to calculate the minimum size of the farm in hectare needed to achieve the average income (in the national economy) of the 4-member family in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The algorithms for determining the size of a family farm focused on crop farming in the corn production area in the economic and production conditions of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were given the following inputs: the average annual income of a 4 member family, own costs for chosen crops, prices crops, average subsidies for agricultural land, average annual harvests of chosen crops. Data were obtained from the ministries of agriculture and statistical offices from both states. We calculate the average 4 member family in Slovakia needs to earn minimum 16 77.44 Euro per year and in the Czech Republic 18 322.08 Euro per year. The results of the paper proved that, according to the model of an average farm focused on crop production, the acreage of 89.99 ha in Slovakia and 122.31 ha in the Czech Republic of agricultural land needs to have one family farm. We are calculating with following commodities: wheat, barley, grain maize, sunflower, oil rape, potatoes and pea. One way to track changes in farm structure is to examine trends in the average size of holding, or average herd size in the case of livestock farms. However, this measure can seriously underestimate the pace of change where much of the growth (in area farmed, or in livestock numbers) takes place on the larger holdings. The persistence of many small holdings, even though the share of the land or livestock that they control is small and may be falling, tends to mask the extent of structural change as measured by averages. The aim of submitted paper is to determine the minimum size of agricultural land of a small family farm focused on plant production in the economic and production conditions of the Czech and Slovak Republics. In the submitted paper the data on farmers has been used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the data of business calculations by Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics from Slovakia and Research Institute of Agricultural Economy from Czech Republic. Key words: farm size, agricultural land, crop production, crops, costs, prices, subsidies.

The basis of neoclassical theory of fiscal policy is the significant rationality of economic subjects. Rationality results from the ability of these entities to optimize their decisions within a long time horizon, taking into account the activities of other entities, for example Government. An important economic entity is also municipalities and cities as representatives of local self-government. In most countries, fiscal decentralization has taken place in relation to local self-government which aim was reducing the local government's dependence on the state's financial management. Nevertheless, the state's incomes are still identifying as an important part of local budgets. The objective of the contribution is to evaluate the tax incomes of municipalities on the basis of selected indicators in the conditions of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in the period 2009 - 2016. The basis for the analysis was cumulative data from municipalities in the Slovak Republic (2 890 municipalities) and cumulative data from municipalities in the Czech Republic (6 271 municipalities) processed in MS Excel. The analysis showed that incomes from tax of personal income represent on average over the analysed period 70% on tax incomes for municipalities in the Slovak Republic and 22% on tax incomes of municipalities in the Czech Republic. Within the structure of the current incomes of municipalities in the Slovak and Czech Republic, tax incomes represent an important component. At the level of municipalities in the Slovak Republic tax incomes represent on average over the analysed period 53% on total current incomes of municipalities and in municipalities in the Czech Republic tax incomes represent 52% on total current incomes of municipalities. Within the analysed period, we register a faster increase of the total current incomes in the municipalities in the Slovak Republic in comparison with the municipalities of the Czech Republic.

The paper assesses similarities and differences between Finland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in terms of their forest bioeconomies. In Finland, which is perceived as a leader in forest bioeconomy, the national bioeconomy strategy was adopted in 2014 and updated in 2022. The Czech and Slovak Republics are following a path towards adopting national forest bioeconomy strategies and have partially adopted bioeconomy principles in other forestry-related strategic documents. The relevant core strategies are, the adoption of the bioeconomy concept in the Czech Republic by the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Low-Carbon Development Strategy of the Slovak Republic. The Czech and Slovak Republics have the potential to utilize the forest sector in order to enable development of their forest bioeconomies in the future.

The objective of this paper is primarily to compare and describe the development of the effective tax rate (relative tax burden) on the taxpayer earning only income from employment and emoluments in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The reason for choosing this type of income has been its importance in terms of the volume of tax collection in the area of natural persons income tax in the Czech Republic. The actual comparison has been performed for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. In all cases, the legal status was considered that was valid and effective as of 31. 12. of particular year. Comparison of the effective tax rate was performed not only between the individual countries themselves, but also chronologically for individual countries (the Czech and Slovak Republics, respectively). After the general introduction, the relevant legislation as to incomes from employment and emoluments in both countries is explained. A separate chapter discusses the specification of the applied methodology, within which basic starting points and the simplifications applied are defined. Another part of the paper contains outputs from compiled mathematical models. These are presented in the form of graphic outputs and supplemented with commentary.