COMPETITION IN SCIENCE CANNOT BE REDUCED TO RIVALRY FOR CITATION RATES

The Situational Centre of the Law Faculty at Moscow State University held the first Expert Round Table on “Developing Competition in Science: Legal, Economic and Security Issues” The discussion focused in the avenues for fulfilling the orders of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin following the meeting of the Educational and Science Council on  27 November 2018 and the outcome of the meeting between Head of FAS Igor Artemiev and the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander  Sergeev, in February 2019.

The Round Table was organized by FAS journal – “Russian Competition Law and Economy” – with participation of the Law and Economics Faculties of Moscow State University and the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Round Table moderators were: S. Maximov, Editor-in-Chief, the “Russian Competition Law and Economy” Journal, an assistant to Head of FAS; and S. Paraschuk, Head of MA Programme on “Competition Law”, the Law Faculty of Moscow State University.

The welcoming address to the discussion participants was given by N. Kozlova, Deputy Dean on Research, the Law Faculty of Moscow State University.

Head of Research at the Institute for the Study of Sciences, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, L. Mindeli, was the key speaker with the report “On devising the concept for developing competition in science”.

The following specialists took part in the follow-up discussion: Е. Gubin, Head of Entrepreneurial Law Department, the Law Faculty of Moscow State University; V. Lopatin, Research Supervisor (Director), Republican Scientific Research Institute of Intellectual Property; V. Zavarukhin, Director of the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences; A. Kudrin, Depuyt Dean on research, the Economic Faculty of Moscow State University; K. Alyoshin, Depuyt Head of FAS Legal; Department, a lecturer at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, of the Foreign Ministry of Russia; I. Bashlakov-Nikolaev, a senior researcher at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics; L. Borisova, Head of Saratov OFAS; N. Valuiskov, an associate professor at the Institute of Service and Business, Don State Technical University; L. Vinogradova, Unit Head, “Business Express” Publishing House; V. Yemelyantsev, a principal researcher, Civil Law and Proceedings Unit, the Institute of Legislation  and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation; Yu. Yermakova, Deputy Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade; L. Kleeva, Head of the Sector for Integration of Science and Education, the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences; E. Osipova, Head of Research-and-Methodological Unit, FAS Administrative Department – the Secretariat of the Head of FAS; A. Pavlinov, a professor at the University of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation; T. Smirnova, Acting Head of the Sector for Studying Competition Issues, the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences; Т. Chesnokova, Unit Head, Department for EAEU Competition Policy and Public Procurement Policy; N. Frolova, a researcher at  the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ye. Chapkina, the coordinator of the Expert Round Table of the “Russian Competition Law and Economy” Journal; S. Chernykh, Head of the Sector of Financial-and-Economic Issues of Science Development,  the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences; lecturers under-and postgraduate students of Russian Universities.

The main items on the Round Table’s agenda included the following:

• What competition in science in view of the antimonopoly regulator?

• Is there any connection between competition of ideas and competition for access of research organizations to budgetary resources?

• Can Russian scientists and their creative teams become fully-fledged participants of public procurement of R&D?

• Is budgetary and legal stimulation of mandatory publications of research results by Russian scientists in the journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science and assigning the single supplier status to these databases for procurement by Russian universities and research institutes / organizations truly in the interests of Russia and Russian science?

The following general conclusions were reached as a result of the discussion.

It is necessary:

• For the regulator (FAS) to study the state of Russian R&D, research, development and engineering markets and the markets of services for publishing research findings (including dissertation results) in the publications indexed in foreign databases and the impact of the national law on science and education, antimonopoly and procurement law and enforcement on these markets;

• Devise proposals on amendments to the law on public and municipal procurement in order to include research teams (particularly, from the Russian Academy of Sciences) and individual scientists in the range of economic entities entailed to participate in R&D procurement organized by the authorities, local self-government bodies and their establishments;

• For the authorized bodies (the Ministry of Education and Science, the Audit Chamber, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, the Federal security Service, the Federal Antimonopoly Service) to study the practice of budgetary and legal stimulation of publishing R&D findings and results (including dissertation research), of the work of researchers and lecturers at budget-funded higher educational establishments and research institutes, in serial publications, indexed at foreign reference databases - Scopus and Web of Science in terms of the interest of developing Russian science and national security;

• Provide state support to the efforts of the Institute for the Study of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences on devising the concept of the Road Map for developing competition in science.

More details on the Round Table can be found on the page of the “Russian Competition Law and Economy” Journal on the web-site of the Publishing House https://dex.ru/novosti-nauchnye-vedomstvennye-izdaniya

The video-version is available on the YouTube-channel of the Publishing House https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-u9x9TmLLgzHnqCjl6bcuQ

The next Expert Round Table of the “Russian Competition Law and Economy” Journal will be at the end of June 2019.