Report:580c4d60-48bf-41e7-b775-8735d44c3153

Facts & Figures

Moldova

Where

• Moldova

Research infrastructure

In 2018, there were 2,466 full-time researchers in Moldova (1). Moldova has 22 universities; 16 public and 8 private (2) and 19 public research and innovation organisations founded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (3).

Research funding

In 2018, the gross expenditures on research and development were €34,4 million, which comprises 0.3% of the country’s GDP (1). Most funding was spent in the government sector (70.1%), business (15.5%) and higher education (11.6%) (1). Moldova had 65 signed grants in H2020 projects receiving €7,2 million from H2020 (4).

Research strategy

In 2018, the Moldovan Government approved the National Development Strategy “Moldova 2030”. The overall aim of the Strategy is to improve the quality of citizens’ lives based on the four basic pillars: sustainable and inclusive economy, strong human and social capital, fair and efficient institutions and healthy environment. In order to develop these areas, 10 sustainable development objectives at national level have been set up by 2030, including: guaranteeing quality education, ensuring effective governance, increasing people’s access to infrastructure and improving working conditions (5).

Research governance, compliance and integrity

Moldova does not have an official structure for research integrity. The National Authority for Integrity is dealing only with public servants and head of institutes (6). It ensures the integrity in the exercise of a public office or public dignity and the prevention of corruption through the control of the property and personal interests and the observance of the legal regime of conflicts of interests, incompatibilities and restrictions (7). There are no trainings in research integrity intended for research integrity officers (7).

The State Agency for Intellectual Property, a public institution under the authority of the Government, performs seminars in the field of intellectual property protection on industrial property rights, copyrights and neighbouring rights. The aim of these seminars is to strengthen knowledge in the field of copyright protection and related rights. The target groups are mainly teachers and students. The seminars are not compulsory and the outcomes are not assessed (7).

The National Agency for Research and Development (NARD) was established in 2018. It is a central administrative authority under the Government of the Republic of Moldova. NARD is responsible for the implementation of the research, innovation and development of national policy, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 and other European Programmes, and the coordination of Moldovan Office for Science and Technology in Brussels (MOST). Its overall objective is to ensure excellence and performance in achieving national priorities in the areas of research, innovation and development (8).

The Academy of Sciences of Moldova (ASM) is the highest scientific forum of the country. It coordinates scientific and innovation activity, serves as a scientific consultant of the public authorities of the Republic of Moldova, and it has an autonomous statute and acts on the basis of self-administration principles (9).

Universities have courses on Professional ethics and culture at the graduate level and masters’ degree level which are designed by the faculties themselves (7). By the decision of the minister of Education no. 1045/2015 the courses on professional ethics and culture are compulsory and the outcomes are assessed. At the end of the course students have examinations (7). Usually in Universities, especially in the State University of Medicine and Pharmaceuticals, there are Commissions/Committees of ethics which are approved by the Senates. Academy of Sciences also has ethics committees. No education is provided for the members of the commissions/committees (10).

The degree of cooperation between universities and research institutions is very weak, given the heavy teaching workload for university professors (up to 1000 hours/year) and lack of research grants incentivizing cooperation and/or mobility between the two sides (7).

Clinical trials require the approval of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices (11).

Moldova does not have a national document regarding research integrity (7). At some extent, the Code of Professional Ethics and Deontology for Scientific and Didactico-Scientific Staff adopted by the National Agency for Quality Assurances in Education and Research is interpreted as national guide in the field (12).

Institutional ethics committees deal with cases of misconduct. These cases are usually solved institutionally and are not publicly available. There were only a few cases, referring to public people, which were made publicly available (plagiarized PhD thesis). In practice, there were approved ad hoc commissions designated by the different institution to investigate cases. Usually, the commission proved even the misconduct; the court had another opinion (7).

Moldova does not have a whistleblower law and there is no specific legal protection for whistleblowers in the private sector. The only development in recent years has been the 2013 Framework Regulation on Whistleblowers, which has created a system to provide civil servants with opportunities to report wrongdoing within public authorities and protect them from retaliation. This Framework has required all government agencies to enact whistleblower procedures. The government’s National Anticorruption Centre (NAC) is overseeing its implementation (13).

Laws and regulations

A number of laws regarding RE and RI are officially instated in Moldova.

Law	Scope
The Code on Science and Innovation of the Republic of Moldova	Regulates activities in the fields of research and innovation, including the process of policy development and implementation, evaluation of organizations, confirmation and recognition of scientific and scientific-didactic titles.
Government decision on the approval of the Research and Development Strategy of the Republic of Moldova until 2020	Approves the Moldovan research-development strategy until 2020.
Government decision no. 381/2019 on the approval of the National Program in the fields research and innovation for the years 2020-2023 and the Plan of actions regarding its implementation	Approves the National Program in the fields of research and innovation for the years 2020-2023 and the Plan of actions with regard to its implementation.
Government decision for the approval of the Regulation on the organisation of the PhD studies	Approves the Regulation on the organization of higher doctoral studies.
Government decision for the approval of the National Roadmap of Integration of Republic of Moldova in ERA Government decision no. 1081/2018	Approves the National Roadmap of Integration of Republic Moldova in European Research Area (ERA) for the years 2019-2021.
Government decision on the approval of the Regulation on the organization and conduct of postdoctoral programs	Ensures the normative framework for organizing research, development and innovation activities through postdoctoral programs.

Measures to promote good scientific practices and open science

RI training

Training exists as separate actions usually regarding open access and open science (14). Many of the state universities offer courses on Professional Ethics at the graduate level that are designed by the faculties themselves (7).

The main resource for RE+RI training/implementation is European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

RI dialogue and communication

The Academy of Sciences promotes collaboration among different research institutes and with different countries with bilateral and collaborative projects. This is done by the Centre for International Projects (15), previously a part of ASM, but now incorporated in the National Agency for Research and Development and responsible for implementing government policies in the fields of research and innovation. It also organizes the activities concerning participation in international research programmes (8).

The Night of European Researchers is organised by the Academy of Sciences in collaboration with other research institutions to promote science among the young population and encourage them to pursue a scientific career (16).

In November, the scientific community of the Republic of Moldova celebrates the Day of Science. This event is organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research. Children and young people also participate in these events (17).

Apart from that, the contest Science Slam serves as a platform for communication between people in science and innovation with the general public (18). 

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, in cooperation with the EUREKA International Association in 2018 organised EUREKA Info Day event. The EUREKA International Association is a platform for international cooperation in research, development, and innovation. The objective of the event is to inform the scientific community and the business environment of Moldova about the EUREKA cooperation framework, the activity of the program, how researchers and entrepreneurs can participate in the existing EUREKA actions, how to launch their own actions, and how to prepare and submit a successful project proposal (19). 

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, in collaboration with the European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST) Association, organized the COST Info Day event in 2018 dedicated to the COST Information Day (20).

The National Agency for Research and Development, the agency which is responsible for implementing government policies in the fields of research and innovation, also organizes Info days on HORIZON 2020 and promotes collaboration among different research institutes (8).

As far as many public scandals involve high position researchers, the public perception of science and its role-results is more negative and pessimist than positive. Some research integrity aspects are discussed in media. Usually regarding high position personalities in research (21).

RI incentives

The National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research (NAQAER), established by the Government, implements state policies and contributes to the development oriented towards the best international standards in the areas of competence assigned: quality assessment in general, technical and higher professional education; external evaluation of continuous professional training programs; external evaluation of organizations in the fields of research and innovation; evaluation of the scientific and scientific-didactic staff and control over the quality of general, vocational and continuing education, compliance with the accreditation and authorization requirements of entities offering educational programs and services (22). Research integrity is not a part of institutional quality assessment at the research institutional level, but it is at the doctoral programs evaluation level. There are universities which have codes of academic integrity and this is part of their quality management. Also, the NAQAER elaborated a Guide to self-assessment report that includes performance criteria and indicators. One of them is the organization of the scientific research (21).

The Government Excellence Scholarship and the Scholarship on scientific domains for PhD students who have achieved outstanding academic performance and actively participate in the social life of the institution are awarded annually by the Government of the Republic of Moldova (23).

There are research institutions offering special Grading of merits for stimulating scientific activity (based on performance). Also, annual awards for excellence in scientific research and didactic activity are offered by universities and institutes (21).

Initiatives	Scope
National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research	Accreditation
The National Award – Government of Republic of Moldova	Support
Youth Prize in Science, Technology, and Arts - The Ministry of Education and Youth (The Ministry of Education and Youth)	Support
The Academy of Sciences Awards	Support

Guidelines

Moldova

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Ana Marusic, Andrijana Perković Paloš, Elsa Amin contributed to this report. Latest contribution was Oct 24, 2021