Approaching or moving away? Comparison of Polish and Hungarian Scientific Assessment Systems in the field of social sciences

Abstract

The aim of our research paper is to investigate and compare the evaluation system used to assess the quality of the scientific activity defined by the decree of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, with the currently used evaluation system of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the field of social science. We used comparative approach; statistics describing the Journal Assessment System applied by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education were analysed, which we compared with the International Journal List of the IX. Section Of Economics and Law of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. As a result, we found that a uniform assessment system has the advantage of ensuring transparency and interoperability. To enhance transparency, a website has been created to showcase the scientific performance of Polish higher education, alongside a range of other scientific content. Categories A, B and C have been removed from the evaluation of journals and replaced by a 7-score scale (5, 20, 40, 70, 100, 140, and 200). The new scale scores differentiate better between categories, which seems to be a good tool for assessing publication performance. If we compare the journals used in the field of social sciences with the list used in Poland, a substantial overlap can be found in most of the committee lists applied by the IX. Section of Economics and Law of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.