History matters: The inherited disciplinary structure of the post-communist science in countries of Central and Eastern Europe and its restructuring

Scientometrics

Volumn 45, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 137-166

  Kozlowski, J ^b   Radosevic, S ^a   Ircha, D ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039129279     PISSN: 01389130     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/BF02458473     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. National Science Indicators on Diskette, 1981-96, 1981-97. Documentation.
2. R. LATTIMORE, J. REVESZ, Australian Science: Performance from Published Papers, Bureau of Industry Economics, Report 96/3, Australian Government Printing Office, cited after: K. PAVITT, The Social Shaping of The National Science Base (in print).
3. S. E. COZZENS, Literature-Based Data In Research Evaluation: A Managers Guide to Bibliometrics, SPRU, 1990; A. F. J. VAN RAAN, R. J. W. TUSSEN, An Overview of Quantitative Science and Technology Indicators Based on Bibliometric Methods, OECD, Paris 1990; A. WELLJAMS-DOROF, Quantitative citation data as indicators in science evaluation: A primer on their evaluation, In: M. S. FRANKL, J. CAVE (Eds), Evaluating Science and Scientists, Budapest, 1997.
4. S. E. COZZENS, Literature-Based Data In Research Evaluation: A Managers Guide to Bibliometrics, SPRU, 1990; A. F. J. VAN RAAN, R. J. W. TUSSEN, An Overview of Quantitative Science and Technology Indicators Based on Bibliometric Methods, OECD, Paris 1990; A. WELLJAMS-DOROF, Quantitative citation data as indicators in science evaluation: A primer on their evaluation, In: M. S. FRANKL, J. CAVE (Eds), Evaluating Science and Scientists, Budapest, 1997.
5. S. E. COZZENS, Literature-Based Data In Research Evaluation: A Managers Guide to Bibliometrics, SPRU, 1990; A. F. J. VAN RAAN, R. J. W. TUSSEN, An Overview of Quantitative Science and Technology Indicators Based on Bibliometric Methods, OECD, Paris 1990; A. WELLJAMS-DOROF, Quantitative citation data as indicators in science evaluation: A primer on their evaluation, In: M. S. FRANKL, J. CAVE (Eds), Evaluating Science and Scientists, Budapest, 1997.
6. These choices are the sum of their individual decisions in submitting papers. a) either to the recognised international journals indexed by ISI or to the local domestic journals; b) either to the English language journals (level of citation for journals indexed by ISI: English - 1.06, German -0.28, French - 0.20, Russian - 0.12, Spanish - 0.09, Italian - 0.02) or to the national language journals; c) either to the highly cited or to the low cited journals.
7. E.g., point situated in graph 1 (post-communist countries - European Union) at 12.68 at the axis of ordinates (post-communist countries) and 43.31 at the axis of abscise (European Union) represents Physics, while point situated at 10.52 at the axis of ordinates and 48.11 at the axis of abscise represents Instrumentation/ Measurement.
8. Countries included are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, USA.
9. In the next two sections we compare CEECs with other regions and also with a few individual countries: Germany, Spain, Ireland, S. Korea and Taiwan. Germany is a natural reference point for CEECs due to its geographical proximity, a common science tradition and the economic and technological impact which Germany is exerting and will exert in the future on countries of this region. Spain is a less developed EU country which is often used as a pair in comparisons with Poland due to its size. Ireland is a less developed but fast growing EU economy which is considered as a model for many smaller CEECs. S. Korea and Taiwan are examples of fast growing economies and of similar development levels which during the 1980s have started a fast progress in explicit, R&D based, technological activities. (See CHOUNG, J-Y, Technological capabilities of Korea and Taiwan: An analysis using US patent statistics, STEEP Discussion Paper, No. 26, November, 1995, SPRU, Brighton).
10. Chemists and engineers in the First World War and theoretical physicists in the Second World War played major roles as creators of the most significant weapons, I. INFELD, I Kongres Nauki Polskiej, Warszawa, 1951, p. 175). Priorities in physics in Poland in the early 1950s included: solid-state, nuclear and molecular physics (ibid, p 125). See also: F. A. JANOUCH, Nuclear power in the CMEA countries: The East continues to go nuclear, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, pp. 315-334.
11. Chemists and engineers in the First World War and theoretical physicists in the Second World War played major roles as creators of the most significant weapons, I. INFELD, I Kongres Nauki Polskiej, Warszawa, 1951, p. 175). Priorities in physics in Poland in the early 1950s included: solid-state, nuclear and molecular physics (ibid, p 125). See also: F. A. JANOUCH, Nuclear power in the CMEA countries: The East continues to go nuclear, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, pp. 315-334.
12. Chemists and engineers in the First World War and theoretical physicists in the Second World War played major roles as creators of the most significant weapons, I. INFELD, I Kongres Nauki Polskiej, Warszawa, 1951, p. 175). Priorities in physics in Poland in the early 1950s included: solid-state, nuclear and molecular physics (ibid, p 125). See also: F. A. JANOUCH, Nuclear power in the CMEA countries: The East continues to go nuclear, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, pp. 315-334.
13. See L. LAUDE, M. WAUTELET, Laser research and prospects for laser applications, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, pp. 290-291. However, one should stress greater autonomy of academies of sciences in Poland and Hungary than, e.g., in Czechoslovakia or East Germany.
14. This model of higher education emphasised science and engineering and an engineering curricula that focused on training for production. The concentration, particularly in engineering, has gradually lessened in the more open political climate of the 1990s. (See Human Resources for S&T: The European Region, NSF 96-316, Special Report, Arlington VA, 1996, p. 57.
15. As concerns life sciences relatively cheap biological experiments (based, e.g., on studies of behaviour in rats and mice) have been developed on a much greater scale than evidence-based clinical medicine or pharmacological research involving the study of hundreds or thousands of people or based on expensive equipment.
16. Contrary to the post-communist countries, in the USA in the 1970s and the 1980s applied research has grown much quicker than basic research, esp. medical sciences, engineering sciences and applied social sciences (business, marketing, management, public administration and social work). See COLLINS R., WALLER, D.: Did social science break down in the 1970s, In: J. HOPE (Ed.), Formal Theory in Sociology. Opportunity and Pitfall? New York, 1994, cited after T. SOZANSKI, Socjologia teoretyczna jako nauka normalna: utopia czy realna szansa? In: Studia Socjologiczne (in print).
17. Contrary to the post-communist countries, in the USA in the 1970s and the 1980s applied research has grown much quicker than basic research, esp. medical sciences, engineering sciences and applied social sciences (business, marketing, management, public administration and social work). See COLLINS R., WALLER, D.: Did social science break down in the 1970s, In: J. HOPE (Ed.), Formal Theory in Sociology. Opportunity and Pitfall? New York, 1994, cited after T. SOZANSKI, Socjologia teoretyczna jako nauka normalna: utopia czy realna szansa? In: Studia Socjologiczne (in print).
18. See, e.g., international success of Russian linear and formal algebra. "In some cases shortage of equipment leads to concentration on theoretical research and to pursuit of directions of research not popular in the West. (Although it should be observed that this theoreticist bias may also be promoted by other factors, including cultural traditions and the desire of some scientists to avoid more 'politicised' applied work)." (J. COOPER, Commentary, In: The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, C. SINCLAIR (Ed.), Dordrecht, 1989, p. 335). "One strategy [of researchers in CMEA countries] is to avoid work requiring sophisticated equipment. This manifests itself in a bias towards theoretical work and the excellence of such work conducted in many CMEA countries. Alternatively, those committed to experimental work have to set their sights on novelty - on being first rather than best." (R. W. MUNN, Molecules and electronics in Poland, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 284). See also the history of semiconductor technology in Poland, J. L. LOFERSKI, Science, Technology and the Economic Salvation in Poland: Myths and Reality, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 151).
19. See, e.g., international success of Russian linear and formal algebra. "In some cases shortage of equipment leads to concentration on theoretical research and to pursuit of directions of research not popular in the West. (Although it should be observed that this theoreticist bias may also be promoted by other factors, including cultural traditions and the desire of some scientists to avoid more 'politicised' applied work)." (J. COOPER, Commentary, In: The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, C. SINCLAIR (Ed.), Dordrecht, 1989, p. 335). "One strategy [of researchers in CMEA countries] is to avoid work requiring sophisticated equipment. This manifests itself in a bias towards theoretical work and the excellence of such work conducted in many CMEA countries. Alternatively, those committed to experimental work have to set their sights on novelty - on being first rather than best." (R. W. MUNN, Molecules and electronics in Poland, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 284). See also the history of semiconductor technology in Poland, J. L. LOFERSKI, Science, Technology and the Economic Salvation in Poland: Myths and Reality, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 151).
20. See, e.g., international success of Russian linear and formal algebra. "In some cases shortage of equipment leads to concentration on theoretical research and to pursuit of directions of research not popular in the West. (Although it should be observed that this theoreticist bias may also be promoted by other factors, including cultural traditions and the desire of some scientists to avoid more 'politicised' applied work)." (J. COOPER, Commentary, In: The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, C. SINCLAIR (Ed.), Dordrecht, 1989, p. 335). "One strategy [of researchers in CMEA countries] is to avoid work requiring sophisticated equipment. This manifests itself in a bias towards theoretical work and the excellence of such work conducted in many CMEA countries. Alternatively, those committed to experimental work have to set their sights on novelty - on being first rather than best." (R. W. MUNN, Molecules and electronics in Poland, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 284). See also the history of semiconductor technology in Poland, J. L. LOFERSKI, Science, Technology and the Economic Salvation in Poland: Myths and Reality, In: C. SINCLAIR (Ed.): The Status of Civil Science in Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, 1989, p. 151).
21. Currently in Poland evidence-based research based on huge samples is usually carried out as contracts commissioned by foreign companies.
22. "In the 1960s and 1970s, the picture of science presented in the media reflected the political and institutional regime. The First Secretary of the Communist party was presented as the most prominent politician and the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences as the most prominent scientist. The media celebrated the cult of science; science was a great, hierarchical institution and scientists were heroes", Reviews of National Science and Technology Policy. Poland, OECD, Paris, 1996, p. 103.
23. The position of humanities dealing with the reconstruction of the past and interpretation of the culture was in the communist period significantly lower than exact sciences, but (generally) higher than social sciences. Nevertheless, like in social sciences certain fields and approaches were preferred as "safer" (e.g., medieval history or formal linguistics).
24. For example, the long-term effect of Lysenco case on the development of life sciences
25. See National Innovation System: Analytical Findings, OECD, DSTI/STP/TIP (98)6, p. 9.
26. The experience of seriously declining returns on investment in many areas is often illustrated by examples such as, e.g., particle physics, see Managing Science Systems: In Search of Best Practices, OECD, 1997.