Expertise is sent to the market

A new approach to the examination of the results of scientific and scientific and technical projects, works and research is aimed at ensuring that they are in demand by the economy, and not “lay on the shelf,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko explained the meaning of the relevant government bill yesterday in the Federation Council. According to the amendments, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) will become the methodologist and coordinator of the entire national pool of experts. Among the promised innovations: an internal rating of experts, arbitration for objections based on the results of the examination and immersion of the entire system in the digital space, using, among other things, artificial intelligence and the “anti-plagiarism” function.

Dmitry Chernyshenko spoke about a new model of scientific and technical expertise yesterday at an expanded meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture. According to him, the updated approach provides that the results of scientific and scientific-technical projects, works and research should find their consumer and be in demand by the economy, and not “lay on the shelf”. The lack of an objective examination of the results of scientific activity “discourages and creates the illusion that one can report with articles, reports and something else,” Dmitry Chernyshenko critically described the current situation. “Today, scientific expertise only answers the question of whether scientific work has been done or not,” added the Deputy Prime Minister’s office.

Let us explain that a new approach to expertise is set forth in a government bill submitted to the State Duma at the end of January. It consolidates the concept of “scientific (scientific and technical) expertise”, determines its content and the procedure for its implementation. The functions of the methodologist and coordinator of the entire national corps of experts will be taken over by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Not only experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences or the Russian Science Foundation will be able to participate in the work (often these are the same people), but also other expert institutes – according to the same rules.

In the national expert system, an internal rating will be applied: the system will raise strong experts, “and lower those who treat negligently or incorrectly conduct an examination,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained. There will also be an arbitration system that will allow you to challenge the results of the examination. It is assumed that experts will be appointed in accordance with the direction of scientific work, which will provide it with a comprehensive examination, including an assessment of scientific relevance. The system will operate in a single digital space, which will allow access to all the information necessary for making a decision. Thanks to artificial intelligence, routine processes will be excluded from the work of an expert. Among the promised digitalization best practices is anti-plagiarism to check the originality of texts. The use of “numbers” will also allow the authorities to get analytics – big data on how well experts work.

The explanatory note to the bill notes that it does not provide for the RAS to be endowed with new functions and is purely editorial and technical in nature. It is assumed that the Russian Academy of Sciences, within the framework of exercising the powers of the coordinator of the expert network, will determine the methodology of expertise, ensure monitoring of the quality and traceability of the assessment of the effectiveness of scientific research and development. As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted earlier at one of the January meetings of the government, now there are virtually no unified approaches to conducting an examination in the legislation. At the same time, they are urgently needed for the planning and implementation of research and development work.

Venera Petrova