Abstract
Abstract In Hungary, the highest and most prestigious scientific qualification is considered to be the Doctor of Science (DSc) title being awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The academic performance indicators of the DSc title are of high importance in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance not only when a researcher applies for obtaining a DSc title, but also during promotions and appointments at universities, and in the case of the evaluation of applications for scientific titles and degrees, and the assessment of applications for funding. In the Section of Earth Sciences encompassing nine related disciplines, rather than carrying out a straightforward bibliometric analysis, the performance indicators were designed as a result of a consensual agreement between leading academicians, each of whom represented a particular discipline. Therefore, the minimum values of the indicators, required to be fulfilled if one is applying for a DSc title, do not adequately reflect the actual discipline-specific performance of researchers. This problem may generate tension between researchers during the evaluation process. The main goal of this paper is to recalibrate the minimum values of four major performance indicators by taking the actual discipline-specific distance ratios into account. In addition, each minimum value will be defined by employing integer and fractional counting methods as well. The research outcome of this study can provide impetus for the Section of Earth Sciences (and eventually other sections of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) to optimize the minimum values of the DSc title performance indicators by taking the specifics of each discipline into account. Because academic performance indicators are also employed in other Eastern European countries in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance, the methods used in that paper can be placed into a wider geographical context.
Highlights
The political, social and economic changes that emerged in the early 1990s enabled the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to become more integrated into the European and global economy
By examining the top 25 percent of individual publication performance per discipline by employing the integer counting method, we can conclude that the actual performance values (APVs) exceed the current minimum values (CMVs) in the case of each discipline (Table 3)
Due to multiple reasons, reforming the academic performance indicators of the Doctor of Science (DSc) title, the highest scientific qualification in Hungary being awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, seems unavoidable
Summary
The political, social and economic changes that emerged in the early 1990s enabled the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to become more integrated into the European and global economy. Whereas PhD degrees are awarded on the basis of a thesis reviewed by independent researchers, the evaluation of Habilitation and DSc degrees is more metric based (Kulczycki, 2017; Kulczycki, Korzen , & Korytkowski, 2017). Both in Poland and Hungary, two of the largest scientific actors in the CEE region (Pajic , 2015), there are constant debates regarding the use of bibliometric indicators in the evaluation of an individual’s research performance
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