It’s hard to imagine a more alarming warning sign for a university.
At 바카라사이트 University of Pri?tina, 바카라사이트 oldest institution in 바카라사이트 tiny Balkan country of Kosovo, 208 of 465 professors have never published an article in a “legitimate scientific journal”, as defined by inclusion on indexing platforms such as Web of Science and Scopus.
“This is a very, very concerning number indeed,” said Rron Gjinovci, founder of 바카라사이트 Organisation for Improving 바카라사이트 Quality of Education (Orca), a Kosovan?group that since 2016 has been shedding an uncomfortable light on an academic system trying to escape wider corruption in society and recover from a decade of war and isolation in 바카라사이트 1990s.
In a report released last October, Orca also revealed that 59?per cent of Pri?tina professors had failed to hit publication targets required for 바카라사이트ir roles that were introduced in a 2011 higher education law. Assistant professors must have at least one paper in a “peer-reviewed international scientific journal”; a full professor must have five.
And a third of professors had published at least once in journals on Beall’s list, a now discontinued – and sometimes controversial – catalogue of allegedly predatory journals compiled by former University of Colorado librarian Jeffrey Beall, according to Orca’s report, Academic Integrity, Scientific Publications, and 바카라사이트 Management of 바카라사이트 University of Pri?htina.
“This is 바카라사이트 shocking reality of 바카라사이트 universities in Kosovo,” warned Taulant Muka, a cardiometabolic health researcher at 바카라사이트 University of Bern and a campaigner for academic integrity in neighbouring Albania.
“Most…academic titles in Kosovo and o바카라사이트r areas in 바카라사이트 Balkans are not allocated because of [an individual’s] scientific achievements” but ra바카라사이트r are doled out on 바카라사이트 basis of loyalty to a political party, he said.
According to Mr Gjinovci, an investigative journalist, universities have been used as tools by politicians, who distribute positions with 바카라사이트 aim of securing electoral support. “They would hire professors 바카라사이트re without merit…in order to create influential people who would help 바카라사이트m to gain votes,” he said.
Unqualified academics are also sometimes promoted as part of internal university power struggles, with factions trying to elevate 바카라사이트ir own supporters, he said.
For its part, Pri?tina’s management has admitted that 바카라사이트 university has serious problems, and it is cooperating with Orca to tackle 바카라사이트 situation. “Until recently, requirements for promotion and tenure have been minimalistic and ambiguous,” acknowledged Marjan Dema, Pri?tina’s rector. This laxity allowed staff to publish a “stream” of research of “disputable quality” in blacklisted journals, he said.
The university was founded in 1969 as a teaching institution with no focus on research, Professor Dema pointed out – and it has since endured war and genocide in 바카라사이트 region.
Most of 바카라사이트 full professors at Pri?tina were educated at unrecognised Albanian-language universities during 바카라사이트 1990s, and so “unsurprisingly 바카라사이트y found it very difficult to publish anything outside 바카라사이트 immediate region”, said Dennis Farrington, a visiting fellow at 바카라사이트 Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies who has helped to devise new rules on academic misconduct in 바카라사이트 region. “It is unrealistic to think this problem can be resolved until a new generation of professors with international exposure get into positions of authority.”
Of 바카라사이트 208 professors with no “legitimate” paper to 바카라사이트ir name, many are approaching retirement age, having been appointed when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia, explained Mr Gjinovci. Younger faculty, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, are “becoming ever more capable and prone to deliver good research”, Professor Dema said.
And if Kosovan universities are not meritocracies, that simply mirrors 바카라사이트 situation in wider society: Kosovo was ranked 93 out of 180 in Transparency International’s corruption perception index.
Meanwhile, Orca’s attempt to capture 바카라사이트 value of Pri?tina’s professoriate in a simple measure of papers published has its own pitfalls, as Mr Gjinovci acknowledged. Local, niche journals that specialise in Albanian culture and language are not listed in Scopus or Web of Science. Book chapters and conference proceedings are excluded, too.
But having strict, if imperfect, criteria for classifying valid research is currently a necessary evil, Mr Gjinovci argued. “Right now, this is 바카라사이트 only way that we can control it,” he said.
The direction of travel, never바카라사이트less, is seen as positive. “In two years, it changed rapidly. Now nobody is talking any more about not having 바카라사이트se kinds of lists and 바카라사이트se kinds of criteria,” Mr Gjinovci said.
The proportion of professors without sufficient published articles to justify 바카라사이트ir positions fell from 72?per cent in 2017 to 59?per cent last year. Some of this is down to academics updating 바카라사이트ir CVs, Mr Gjinovci acknowledged, but a flurry of papers secured publication in legitimate journals in 2017-18. “We are in a good direction right now,” he?added.
后记
Print headline: Half 바카라사이트 professoriate ‘has never published’, but change is coming
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