The political and economic transformation of Eastern Europe has had a major impact on science and scientists in the region.  The end of the Cold War has brought new opportunities for international collaboration.  The shift to a market economy has led to reforms in research management practices and to drastic cuts in funding levels everywhere.  One of the key issues facing East European scientists and science policy makers is research evaluation. 

Many countries have moved or are moving to a system of competitive research grants awarded on the basis of peer review.  The introduction of peer review is not simply a technical manner.  It signifies a fundamental change in the social structure of science, enhancing professional autonomy and giving working scientists a voice in the allocation of resources. 

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Polish Society for the Advancement of Science and the Arts, and the State Committee for Scientific Research in Poland convened a workshop in Pultusk, Poland in October 1993, on the topic, "Evaluating Science and Scientists."  The workshop fostered a dialogue addressing the peer review questions associated with the transition from an existence under single party rule and central planning to a participatory and self-regulatory role in a democratic domain. 

A product of the workshop is the book Evaluating Science and Scientists: An East-West Dialogue on Research Evaluation in Post-Communist Europe, edited by Mark S. Frankel and Jane Cave.  It examines efforts to reform research funding and evaluation in Eastern Europe, and provides an overview of Western experience and scholarly research related to the use of peer review and quantitative evaluation techniques.  The volume details the varying economic and political conditions affecting the allocation of resources, the underlying assumptions of peer review and the use of qualitative indicators, the reliability of those methods, their weaknesses and possible remedies, and their consequences for science and other social institutions. 

To order Evaluating Science and Scientists, please contact Oxford University Press, Order Department, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513; call 1-800-451-7556; or fax your request to 1-919-677-1303. 

The project was co-organized by Dr. Mark S. Frankel and Jane Cave at AAAS. 

The project was supported by the National Science Foundation, the State Committee of Scientific Research in Poland, and the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland.