SCIENTIFIC WORK EVALUATION: BETWEEN QUALITY AND SCIENCE IMITATION

Scientific work evaluation is becoming an urgent and even a sharp question, raising various discussions as never before. A new science and study institutions' scientific work evaluation methodics has been in force in Lithuania since July 10th, 2010. A special attention is paid to formal evaluation problems. Expert evaluation is an object of discussion as well. One of the essential methodics ideas is that institutions are compared according to scientific work being carried out in them, using general activity evaluation indexes in science and art fields and directions. It is absolutely not clear, why the indexes being used are general according to directions and fields. Only the fact, that social and humanitarian sciences are joined into one group and thus, these science field works will practically be evaluated the same, is illogical. It is absolutely obvious, that economics and philology work evaluation is virtually different, isn't it? There are various inaccuracies and incompleteness in the methodics. Let's say, it is not clear, in general, what the difference is between “scientific article” and “academic publication”. The concept “higher school textbook” has been under discussion. But, how is that related to science? Textbook is a didactic but not a scientific work. Though science production evaluation criteria are not stable or universal, however, axial things remain the same. It is almost universally acknowledged, that the most important science production elements are: research books, monographs, journals, chapters in research book, proceedings, conference presentation, patent. Thus, science quality, science policy formation and other related questions are very urgent in Lithuania. There is no clear and distinct science policy formation mechanism. The expansion of science seeking only pragmatic aims leads only to a deadlock. Science, first of all, is cognition, creation of knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to keep and develop science for the sake of cognition but not just for money.