Guidelines for Quality in Research 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR
Guidelines for Quality in Research Foreword It was the purpose of the EU-funded Tempus project Quality in Research to contribute to the promotion of research in four Western Balkan Countries (WBC) Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. The participating universities started the project under very different pre-conditions which allowed intensive discussions and resulted in valuable learning effects. From its start in 2011 the project evolved from the diverse situations of research at the participating WBC universities and the discussions throughout the project. One topic, which was at the very heart of all participating institutions, was the fragile situation of Young Scientific Researchers (YSR) who had and still have only limited access to adequate research infrastructure such as high quality computers, laboratory equipment, up-to-date literature (print and online), funds and institutional support for mobility such as research visits. Thus, one major pillar of the project was the support to young researchers in terms of infrastructure at their home universities but also allowing them to research at host universities in the EU partner countries of the project. The young researchers brought home new ideas and collaboration partners for their studies and their research. We would like to thank the whole consortium and especially the EU partner universities who invested much time and energy to make the study visits worthwhile for their guests. The application of these Guidelines in practice is foreseen to be embedded in the current discourse. The Guidelines are therefore kept short and simple in order to allow for their wider application as well as further interpretation and development. They do not include a manual with specific instructions on how to apply quality in research. Instead they are seen as a starting point for discourse and awareness raising at the participating institutions and beyond. Their application will encompass new discussions evolving via 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 1
transnational and Europe-wide research initiatives such as the Western Balkans Regional R&D Strategy for Innovation which was published in October 2013 in the framework of another EU project. The Western Balkan Regional R&D Strategy aims to strengthen the region s research capacity, enhance intra-regional cooperation, promote collaboration with business sectors, explore possibilities for financing R&D from EU funding schemes and other external sources, and help integrate the region into the European Research Area (ERA) and Innovation Union. 1 In the context of a wider geographical scope the Guidelines are embedded in the Europe 2020 Strategy of the European Union, which includes more than 30 action points for turning Europe into a region with smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and for turning it into an Innovation Union which will improve the framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs. 2 Stemming from the worldwide financial upheaval of the recent years, the financial crisis has left millions of people in Europe unemployed. The majority of them belong to the most vulnerable groups in countries in transition, where there is a weak financial and social backbone to absorb the consequences of a high unemployment rate and thus leaving young people with no other option than to emigrate. Together with this youth from the WBC some of the future top scientists and their innovative ideas are leaving these countries. We believe that the project Quality in Research as well as these Guidelines contribute to awareness raising on the necessity of reforms and change in the field of research and science by better anchoring research and cross-cutting topics such as ethics in research, research management and support services, and equal 1 Western Balkans Regional R&D Strategy for Innovation, prepared under the Western Balkans Regional R&D Strategy for Innovation World Bank Technical Assistance Project funded by the European Commission (DG ENLARG TF011064); October 2013 2 Communication from the Commission. Europe 2020: A Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. COM (2010). Brussels/EC: 2010 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 2
opportunities at the universities. The project furthermore sends out yet another signal that supporting Young Scientific Researchers needs to be one of the core pillars of any strategic endeavor by the academic and economic communities if they wish to counteract brain drain and keep the best of their young researchers in their countries. Project Consortium Quality in Research 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 3
Guidelines for Quality in Research Introduction Issue at the center of attention of the international scientific community, the quality of the research has been of particular concern in Europe as demonstrated by the documents "Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area", "Salzburg Principles" and "Salzburg II Recommendations". The general goal of the project Researching Quality and Quality in Research QiR is to promote the conversion of Western-Balkan Countries (WBC) research standards to those of the EU member states. To achieve this goal, a team from the University Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis (UP8) undertook a survey of topics that WBC partners consider important to be included in the Guidelines for Quality in Research. This survey was conducted in April and May 2012. It highlighted the need to focus on the following six points: I. Ethics in research II. Scientometrics III. Research management/support services IV. PhD Dissertation: Training, Practices and Quality standards V. Promotion of young researchers VI. Gender issues and equal opportunities. Based upon the UP8 practices and the international publications on quality of research, the UP8 team has developed during June- August 2012 documents that address the six aspects mentioned above. These papers were presented at the meeting of Novi Pazar (September 10-11 2012) and were discussed in plenary sessions and workshops on each topic. Discussions made on this occasion highlighted the participants' interest in improving the quality of research and in the development of guidelines in this area, as well as differences among WBC partners in practices and modes of organization of research. 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 4
On the basis of documents submitted in Novi Pazar and discussions generated by these documents, the UP8 team prepared a draft of the Guidelines for quality in research. At the time of the study visit to UP8 (5-6 November 2012), participants received this draft of the Guidelines. They were asked to send their comments and suggestions to UP8 team. With the feedback received UP8 team written the final form of the Guidelines which includes the proposals made by the partners of the project TEMPUS. The Guidelines are focused on six topics proposed by the partners. For each point was set a goal and specific tasks. This procedure allows assessing easily the achievement of the objective by examining the achievement of specific tasks. Guidelines (final form) 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 5
I. Ethics in research Objective: to ensure the respect of ethical rules in research. Set up a Committee of Ethics at the university level. This committee could and should punish breaking the rules of proper scientific conduct. Development and utilization of special software for the detection of plagiarism. Make the scientific community sensitive to problems of "misconduct" (fabrication and falsification of data, bibliographic negligence, citation amnesia, etc.). II. Scientometrics Objective: implementation of the scientometric criteria in the universities involved in Tempus Project. Spread in the academic community a document with information about scientometrics and scientometric indexes. Draw up scientometric criteria specific to different fields in humanities and social sciences. Motivate universities to submit their local journals to indexing services (or data bases). Establish a schedule for realization of this task. Assess the research activity carried out during the last five years in each university using international scientometric criteria and monitor the result each two years. Establish a schedule with accurate targets for the gradual adjustment of each university to scientometric standards. III. Research management/support services Objective: set up necessary structures that ensure the quality of research. Set up a research service in each university, service that must ensure support, accompaniment, inventory and followup of research activities, the research of funding and proper 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 6
IV. responses to calls for bid, the census of research projects in cooperation with other national or foreign universities. Creation in the universities of the position of Vice-Rector for research. Set up in each university of an organization diagram of research structures. PhD Dissertation: Training, Practices and Quality Standards Objective: ensure the quality of the PhD training and research Integrating doctoral research in the main research directions of the university. Set up third cycle programmes / Doctoral Schools in universities where such programmes / structures doesn t exist. Draw up third cycle / Doctoral School Internal Regulation. Draw up (in universities where it doesn t exist) a PhD studies Charter that specifies rights and duties of the PhD students and PhD supervisors. Set up a Local and/or a National Index or Repertoire of PhD dissertations with following specifications: name of doctoral student, his/her university affiliation, title and summary of his/her dissertation and name of the supervisor. Provide comprehensive and topical information to applicants for doctoral grants or other financial supports. V. Promotion of young researchers Objective: favoring recruitment of the young researchers and developing their research skills. Draw up annual statistics on mean age of researchers hired by university. Monitor annually these statistics to underscore tendencies and intervene according to these tendencies. Facilitate the post-doctoral mobility in the case of recruitments. 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 7
VI. Facilitate post-doctoral training. Integrate young researchers after their recruitment in university research teams or if it s not possible, in intercampus teams. Encourage the participation of young researchers in national and international meetings. Facilitate the research activity of young researchers by the management of their work time (reduction of the number of teaching hours, teaching to smaller groups, etc.) Provide appropriate funding and resources for research through public support to higher education institutions based on commitments of ministers stressed in Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education (Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009), Budapest-Vienna Declaration on the European Higher Education Area (March 12, 2010) and Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education (Bucharest, 26-27 April 2012) and through other funding sources and methods (such as cooperation with private sector). Facilitate specialization in foreign universities. Make known in the academic community outcomes of young researchers who have distinguished themselves by obtaining awards, grants or publishing in quality journals or editors). Gender issues and equal opportunities Objective: ensure women participation in research and avoid any form of segregation linked to gender. This objective is of equal relevance to the representatives of other groups and must ensure diversity in higher education institutions. This means that it aims other groups often underrepresented in scientific communities (for example, people with disabilities, those from minorities or disadvantaged backgrounds, etc.). Draw up statistics concerning the number of women: (a) hired; (b) promoted; (c) with responsibilities in research structures (for example, director of a team, of a research center, etc.). 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 8
Monitor annually statistics carried out to establish trends about gender issues and intervene according with these trends. Monitor cases of persons belonging to other groups that may be underrepresented in the scientific community (people with disabilities, from the national minorities, etc.) who encounter difficulties to be integrated into the research community. Designate a member of the research service to realize these monitoring. Make public the success of women members of the academic community who received prices, research grants or obtained valuable results in research. 517097-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPGR 9