Quality Of Scientific Activity Research Articles

Peculiarities of Evaluating the Activity of Scientific Organizations in Some Countries of the Former USSR

Methodological approaches and peculiarities of evaluating the activity of research institutions in the countries of the former USSR are considered. Thus, in the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to the "Methodology for evaluating the activity of entities of scientific and (or) scientific and technical activity", each indicator is assigned to a certain block provided in the "Rating list of entity". The significance of indicators in blocks is regulated by feasible parameters. The quality of scientific and scientific and technical activities is determined by summing up the integral assessments for all blocks. According to the total number of points received, the commission makes a decision on the recommendation of the entity of scientific and technical activity for accreditation.
 In the Republic of Armenia, a rating model for evaluating the results of their activities is used to distribute the basic funding of scientific institutions. The evaluation takes place according to seven criteria, represented by indicators, which are used to calculate the coefficient of evaluation of the effectiveness of the scientific activity of the institution. At the same time, pre-formed groups of institutions engaged in scientific activities in similar fields of scientific research are subject to evaluation.
 In the Republic of Uzbekistan, with the goals of creating a competitive environment in the field of scientific research and development, stimulating an increase in the level and quality of scientific activity, ensuring effective mechanisms for managing the scientific sphere, rational use of scientific potential and financial resources, the "Methodology for determining the rating of scientific institutions" was approved. The framework of the rating is based on the principles of impartiality, transparency and fairness, as well as criteria determined by indicators. Indicators are calculated according to formulas, based on the results of which points are determined. According to the points, a ranking of institutions is formed and they are divided into groups.
 The conclusion is as follows that in the considered countries of the former USSR, preference is given to a quantitative approach aimed at obtaining a final assessment in the form of a single numerical indicator. Such an assessment does not include the quality of research and the specificity of activities in various fields of science, does not reflect the importance of the results, and therefore does not characterize the effectiveness of a specific scientific institution. The mentioned approach raises questions about its objectivity, as it does not allow to avoid manipulations with the assignment of certain points, which occurs artificially. The difference in the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of scientific institutions in Ukraine is indicated.

Quality of scientific activity as a determinant of socio-economic development

The purpose of this work is to identify the functional links between key indicators of scientific activity and socio-economic development and to check whether the quality of scientific activity and the dynamics of innovative development are the key determinants of socio-economic progress. Following the chosen methodology, the paper forms an array of input data that characterizes the level of scientific and innovative activity, economic and social development. The principal component method is used to identify the most relevant indicators from each group and to introduce three latent variables that denote each group separately. A system of simultaneous structural equations is obtained as a result of establishing functional relationships between manifest and latent variables and building a structural model. In addition, the paper determines two clusters of the studied countries to confirm the obtained results through structural modelling. The study is conducted for 35 European countries based on 33 indicators, which characterize the quality of scientific activity, economic and social development during 2014-2020. The obtained system of structural equations confirms the hypothesis regarding the importance of scientific activity quality in terms of ensuring the socio-economic development of the country.

Quality of Scientific Activity, Technology Transfer and Research Integrity: Case of Ukrainian University

The article analyzes the relationship between the concepts “quality of scientific activity”, “technology transfer” and “research integrity”. The main task of research is to offer practical tools for maintaining research integrity as elements of the internal and external quality assurance system of education and research. One of the working hypotheses of the study is the correlation between the quality of educational activities at the university, the quality of research and the level of interest of customers of innovative developments in the process of transfer and commercialization of research results. The first two components are determined by the “purity” of research through the implementation of the principles of research integrity. The schematic relationship between the individual goals of sustainable development characterizes the relationship “university − the quality of research − technology transfer – industry”. A logical scheme between research integrity, technology transfer and procedures for internal and external research quality assurance is proposed. The abstract-logical method and the method of induction-deduction were used to analyze the relationship between the concepts of “quality of scientific activity”, “technology transfer” and “research integrity”. Bibliometric analysis was performed using SciVal and VOSviewer tools based on data from the scientific-metric databases Scopus and Web of Science. Based on the bibliometric analysis, it was found that the query “research integrity” identifies the main violations of research integrity and shows a strong link between the quality of research and success in the transfer of knowledge and technology from university to industry. The main problems of the development of technology transfer between the university and industry at the national level are analyzed. A separate block of problems related to research integrity is identified. The case of the national university on creation of university system of maintenance of research integrity and development of infrastructure of maintenance of scientific activity within the limits of the specified system is resulted. The results of the work can be useful for the triangle “business education-science” to reconcile the interests of all the “vertices” of the triangle under the mandatory condition – ensuring the quality of educational and research activities in universities as centers of intellectual potential.

An integrated method for evaluating the quality of education and university performance

Purpose. To create an integrated methodology for assessing educational and scientific activities of higher education institutions (HEI) following the recommendations of international ranking agencies and specific indicators that consider the institutions position at the national level. Methodology. The combined method of evaluation of the HEI activity is applied. Some evaluation indicators are inherent in the HEI (in whole or in part). Others have a specific numerical value. The calculation of the final ranking indicator is based on comparing universities according to the indicators from the methodology (ranking positions in the world educational and scientific space, education quality indicators, financial indicators, and quality of scientific activity) with the reference university, which has the best result for each indicator. Findings. An integrated methodology algorithm for assessing the educational and scientific activities of the HEI is presented and recommendations are given for the use of each of the indicators depending on the peculiarities of the ranking (for example, general ranking or ranking by direction). Originality. An integrated method of external evaluation of educational and scientific activities is proposed, considering both well-known indicators of world ranking agencies and specific (different from world ranking indicators) indicators for assessing universities activities at the national level. Practical value. The method allows determining some economic indicators of the dynamics (positive or negative) of university development and finding bottlenecks in the implementation of specific activities in the institutions educational and scientific activities. The methodology considers the actual educational activities (training of higher education institutions at all levels). It also allows us to assess the success of free economics in implementing scientific activities as a significant factor in creating new knowledge and improving educational services quality.

PLAGIARISM IN STUDENTS’ WORKS

Objective of the research is to find out the most common reasons for the development of student plagiarism and to identify the ways to prevent it. Methods. The following methods are used in the process of the research: method of analysis of documents, in particular the authors worked out scientific literature, laws of Ukraine; practical method — selection of factual material, formulation of conclusions about the detection of plagiarism in the works, its avoidance and measures that allow to maximize the level of originality. Results. Plagiarism in students’ work is no less dangerous than plagiarism of scholars, writers, and other creators. The danger of student plagiarism is that, at the first, the use of the others’ intellectual property results becomes a norm and is not considered an offense; at the second, the quality of training of future specialists is deteriorating; at the third, the quality of scientific activity is significantly reduced. Turning to the study of the main causes of plagiarism in students’ work, it should be noted that all cases of appropriation of authorship can be divided into two types: unintentional plagiarism (the most widespread in scientific works) and intentional. Unintentional plagiarism is permissible due to the lack of the necessary knowledge in the field of copyright by the students, as well as the use of scientific works of other authors. Deliberate plagiarism is the conscious appropriation by students of authorship of the others’ ‘works, the publication of these works as their own. The purpose of plagiarism for the student is to simplify the learning process, improve the quality of their own scientific work by including in them fragments of other people’s works, which are written by specialists, timely completion of the task (abstract, coursework or diploma paper). Of course, intentional plagiarism is more dangerous, but if measures to prevent unintentional plagiarism in time are not taken, the appropriation of authorship of other people’s works will gradually become normal and become commonplace.

Quality Indicators of Research Results

The article is devoted to the problems of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of research work. These problems are being actualized under the globalization influence of the formation of an innovative economy, which requires adequate financial support for research, education and other innovative factors. The quality of scientific activity has become one of the criteria for success in the modern world. Finding criteria for determining effective domestic research, taking into account the needs of national economic development in the face of increasing challenges of global competition, is extremely relevant.
 Improving the reliability of the quality of research results will stimulate innovation, creative search and productive use of its results.
 The article analyzes and generalizes the advantages and disadvantages of approaches to assessing the quality of research results. The advantages of scientometric evaluation (citation index, Hirsch index, impact factor) of scientific activity, productivity and progress include ease of use, low cost of assessment, as well as the ability to conduct it at the level of individual researchers, teams, organizations, countries and regions.
 It is proved that in order to activate innovative processes in the economy and to make full use of the potential of science in the process of technological modernization of the Ukrainian economy, it is necessary to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches to assessment.
 Applying only quantitative (scientometric) estimates will not produce the expected results. The problem of objective assessment of the quality of work of a researcher goes beyond the simplified formal scientometric indicators. This approach does not allow for high objectivity to evaluate the scientific result. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of researchers, it is proposed to use the dynamics of the quantity and quality of the content of the scientific result (innovation, generalization, validation and durability of the results) and expert judgment (the level of solving the research problem, or the usefulness of the obtained scientific results).
 Proposed changes to the provisions of the Concept of reforming the system of financing and management of scientific and technical activities and a plan of measures for its implementation.
 It is concluded that a comprehensive and targeted approach will help to create appropriate prerequisites for state support and ensure the development of innovative factors for the growth of the national economy.

Зарубіжний досвід оцінки якості наукової діяльності

Зарубіжний досвід оцінки якості наукової діяльності

Institutional Possibilities and Limits of Professional Self-Realisation of Researchers under the Innovative Restructuring of Russian Science

Introduction. At a time of global economic, social, cultural and political change, it is particularly important to monitor the sustainability of socially important institutions in rapidly changing spheres. Beyond any doubt, the field of science has a special role to play in innovative transformation.The aim of the present sociological research is to establish the degree of compliance of the personal, collective and institutional levels of innovative restructuring of Russian science with the challenges of an innovative society. The consistency and integrity of functioning of these levels is one of the key conditions for the professional self-realisation of a modern scientist.Methodology and research methods. The methodological basis of the study is the integral individual-system paradigm, which considers the agent of action in the system of rules and resources, limiting the range of choice in the system. Empirical data were collected through an expert semi-formalised survey of researchers in 21 entities of the Russian Federation. The sample (N = 640) consisted of respondents engaged in technical, natural, humanitarian, social and philosophical spheres, higher education system, centres of the Russian Academy of Sciences and state management structures.Results and scientific novelty. The institutionalisation of social practices is represented as a synthesis of the field of individual intentions and rules of interaction established in the social field. At the intersection of these fields, standardised social interaction schemes are being transformed and new behaviours and actions are emerging.The present research for the first time applied a three-level model of institutionalisation of science in an innovative environment, which allowed correlating the personal, organisational and systemic factors of disclosure of the intellectual potential of the scientist. Moreover, this resulted in identifying the existing contradictions between the personal motivation of agents of scientific activity and mechanisms, which structure the work of scientific organisations and the system of indicators of their effectiveness approved by the state. The survey data demonstrated stable motivation of Russian scientists for professional self-realisation and active scientific search, based on personal responsibility, understanding of the social significance of their research, or less frequently based on the membership of a successful team. However, serious institutional barriers have been identified to optimise the working conditions of scientists. The institutional barriers include: the administrative difficulties of establishing strong professional links with production, social and power structures; the lack of opportunities to participate in global scientific discourse; the narrow functionality of scientific organisations as an intermediate link between scientists and the state; the reluctance of expert scientific community to develop the criteria and indicators of the quality of scientific activity; the non-compliance of these indicators with innovative priorities and goals, etc.Practical significance. The research results and proposals can be used to adjust the state policy of the Russian Federation and the principles of management of the organisation in accordance with the innovative priorities of the society.

A method to evaluate the scientific activity quality of HEIs based on a scientometric subjects presentation model

The study suggests a method of integral assessment of the scientific activity quality of higher educational establishments and other structural research units or organizations dealing in one way or another with scientific activities. This method involves the development of a model for representing scientometric subjects. According to the developed model, it is necessary to evaluate consistently the entire chain of subjects of scientometrics – published works, authors, and journals. Hence, it will produce estimates for each higher education institution. Taking into account that a number of requirements and criteria to be met by each institution of higher education are presented, the expedient task is to develop a method for converting qualitative indicators of scientific activity of institutions into quantitative ones. This can be achieved using a set of activities that underlies the method of assessing the quality of scientific work of HEIs. Having calculated the indicators of the quality of scientific activity for universities, it is possible to obtain prerequisites for the definition of similar indicators for subjects located at the lower levels of the scientific hierarchy. These include structural units of universities, published scientific works and scholars who are the authors of the published scientific works. It can be done by using the metric that is described in this study. The research observations on the assessment of the significance of higher education institutions and research units show that more often than not institutions must follow a certain template of requirements and criteria that is common to all institutions and organizations. It is obvious that such an approach should be considered inappropriate in the view that each higher education institution exists only within its category and institutions are compared as equivalent. Therefore, an urgent need is to categorize higher education institutions, which clearly outlines the boundaries to which one or another institution relies on a number of parameters. It is substantiated that the categorization of HEIs should be carried out using fuzzy logic methods, taking into account the similarity coefficients of the institutions. A sequence of actions is also identified in the study, which should be followed to ensure that the selected HEI categories have been correctly formed under a number of reporting settings

Scientific publishing in different countries: what simple numbers do not tell

Background: The evaluation of scientific productivity is a well-established approach for assessing the quality of scientific activity of a single scientist, of a team of scientists, as well as of a university or a country. Methods: In this article, we aim to provide an update analysis of scientific publishing of the eight countries, seven of which belonging to the so-called “G7” (i.e., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) plus China. The scientific output has then been normalized for the number of inhabitants and for the gross domestic product (GDP). Results: For the total number of publications, the US occupies the first position in the ranking, followed by China and UK. When the national scientific production is reported as number of publications for inhabitants, the UK and Canada are at the top of the ranking. Finally, when the national scientific production is reported in terms of number of publications for GDP, China is at the first place followed by the US. Conclusions: This analysis shows that the use of the total number of publications as the only index for assessing the quality of the scientific production of a single country may be misleading.

Criteria and parameters of an objective assessment of the quality of scientific activity

Judging by publications in both the scientific and nonscientific press, the scientific community is concerned with the problem discussed in this article. The author stresses the necessity to create a methodology of assessing the quality of scientific activity, which post-Soviet Russia needs more than any other country. The heated tone in which the author substantiates his point of view will probably provoke the readers of Herald to express their opinions concerning the problem covered in the article.

Recherche et non-recherche. Les valeurs à l’oeuvre dans l’évaluation des protocoles épidémiologiques

Background Evaluation and ethical review of epidemiological research projects raises the problem of the limits between research and non-research. This ambiguous boundary reflects the status of this discipline at the crossroads between research and practical action. The question then is: in the field of health research, what gives data collection and analysis its quality of scientific activity? Methods A conceptual and empirical study has been conducted about the practices of epidemiological research evaluation, centred on the case of the French Consultative Committee for the data processing in health research (CCTIRS), which is a consultative board that permits the National commission for the personal data protection (CNIL) to take decision about health research protocols that process personal data. The study was realized from 2003 to 2006. Results It is shown that the evaluation of such research protocols processing personal data articulates intimately two kinds of criteria: methodology and relevance. By studying and characterizing the different kinds of protocols that are judged not to be “scientific research” (poor science, pseudo-science and non-science), it becomes possible to understand the motives that lead to distinguish between what is and what is not research in epidemiology. A special attention is given to two kinds of problematic cases: firstly, the case of conflict of interests into the protocols themselves (i.e. seeding trials or surveys); secondly, the problem of epidemiological registers and other databases which are not hypothesis-oriented. This last case leads to relate the conceptual frame of the committee with historical circumstances (the way which this discipline was introduced in France) and also mere epistemological considerations (the question of induction and generalizability). Conclusion The activity of this committee illustrates a differentiated conception of what is research in epidemiology, influenced by explanatory analytical research paradigms. Finally, the field of epidemiological research appears to be structured by some values that appear through the elaboration and the application of the ethical and regulatory texts.