Informator uniwersytecki

Las Vegas part 3 – The roulette

The result of national and local evaluating system for academics has degenerated into a travesty similar to Las Vegas. Besides the “point-ology” – which is already bad (see Welcome to Las Vegas, part 1 and Welcome to Las Vegas, part 2) – there is the list of journals approved by the Ministry of Education and Science (MEiN).

Much has been said in how ridiculous the MEiN point system is, especially since it is based on politics not science. This absurdity was brilliantly mocked by Konrad Szaciłowski and his imaginary friend (Kapela Pilaka) who published in Pedagogika Katolicka the article Filumenistyczne hobby Karola Wojtyły (Karol Wojtyła’s philumenistic passion – the little-known passion for collecting matchboxes by the late Pope). This journal has an impact factor of 0 (yes zero!) but has been awarded 200 points by MEiN. More in this can be found here: https://forbetterscience.com/2024/08/02/schneider-shorts-2-08-2024-philosophical-and-scientific-inquiry-into-the-limits-of-divine-power/#poland

MEiN hand-picked the journals. To no one’s surprise, these high-scoring journals is where the former minister of education has published his ‘many’ papers – altogether cited less times than the number of moons around Pluto (which, BTW, is no longer considered a planet).

So, this brings us to our new game: Welcome to the roulette of everchanging points. Points assigned to renowned international scientific journals might be distributed at any moment to some more “important” journals by some capricious minister. By the time your article is published, the journal you submitted to might have more, fewer or zero points.

Now you probably are saying ‘yes, but that was then’…
And you are probably wrong.
The very fact that swapping ministers leads to an entirely new list proves that these points serve someone’s agenda – not for science but for politics. And politicians leap from one side to another, like grasshoppers, when the grass is greener elsewhere.

Roulette comes from the French word for ‘little wheel’.
The wheel — invented millennia ago, now undergoing ‘necessary’ improvements by the Ministry of Mumpsimus.