Procedures for Organising the International Evaluation of Scientific Institution Activity

Issued pursuant to
Section 41, Paragraph three
of the Law on Scientific Activity

1. The Regulation prescribes the procedures by which the Ministry of Education and Science (hereinafter - the Ministry) shall, once every six years (hereinafter - the evaluation year), organise the international evaluation of scientific institutions activity (hereinafter - the evaluation).

2. The Ministry shall, for the organisation of the evaluation, attract a performer of the evaluation in accordance with this Regulation - a legal person who has professional experience and competence in organising evaluations of the scientific activities of scientific institutions, including the competence in applying the uniform principles for evaluating the scientific institution activity as defined in the process of reforming the scientific evaluation within the European Research Area, as well as good reputation and corresponding capacity (hereinafter - the performer). The Ministry shall attract the performer in accordance with the requirements of the laws and regulations in the field of public procurements. The Ministry shall organise the evaluation of those scientific institutions which have provided the information referred to in Paragraphs 16 and 17 of this Regulation.

[19 November 2024]

3. The Ministry shall provide the performer with user rights of the National Research Information System (hereinafter - the Information System), complying with the normative regulation regarding the Information System.

4. The performer shall, in compliance with the requirements of this Regulation and by consulting with sectoral ministries to which scientific institutions are subordinate, the organisations representing scientific institutions, and the Latvian Council of Science, develop and the Ministry shall approve the evaluation methodology.

5. The performer shall ensure the implementation of the evaluation which provides for the attraction of foreign experts and the organisation of evaluation work, and also the preparation of a report by foreign experts on the evaluation of scientific institutions (hereinafter - the consolidated report).

6. The performer shall:

6.1. establish and organise the evaluation work in the following collegial groups of foreign experts (hereinafter - the group of experts) in conformity with the normative regulation regarding the major fields of science, the fields and subfields of science of Latvia:

6.1.1. the group of natural science experts;

6.1.2. the group of engineering and technology experts;

6.1.3. the group of medical and health science experts;

6.1.4. the group of agriculture, forestry, and veterinary science experts;

6.1.5. the group of social science experts;

6.1.6. the group of humanities and the arts experts;

6.2. ensure that there are at least six foreign experts in each group of experts, one of whom is the head of the group of experts, one - an expert on national economy, and at least four foreign experts correspond to the primary major field of science of the activity of the scientific institution or the entity to be evaluated referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the major fields of science, the fields and subfields of science of Latvia;

6.3. ensure the right to the scientific institution to become acquainted with members of the relevant group of experts who have been attracted for the evaluation of the scientific institution. The scientific institution shall, within five working days after receipt of such information, send the performer a written submission on the conformity of foreign experts with the major field of science or the primary major field of science and the related major field of science of activity of the scientific institution or the entity to be evaluated referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the major fields of science, the fields and subfields of science of Latvia. If the performer recognises the abovementioned submission as justified, it shall update the composition of the relevant group of experts in order to ensure the evaluation of the scientific institution.

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7. The requirements for a foreign expert shall be as follows:

7.1. a doctoral degree;

7.2. international experience in the evaluation of research and development systems or scientific institutions which has been obtained in different countries;

7.3. scientific work experience of at least 10 years and published original scientific articles in scientific journals or collected articles reviewed and included in Web of Science or SCOPUS databases the citation index of which reaches at least the average index in the field (not applicable to a national economy expert);

7.4. does not represent the scientific institution and there are no circumstances in his or her activities that would give rise to a conflict of interests, including that do not cause and will not cause personal or material interest.

8. The requirements for the head of the group of experts shall be as follows:

8.1. the conformity with the requirements referred to in Paragraph 7 of this Regulation;

8.2. experience in the management of an international group of experts while evaluating scientific institutions.

9. The group of experts shall fulfil the following tasks:

9.1. evaluate the information provided in the self-assessment report on the scientific institutionʼs activity (hereinafter - the self-assessment report);

9.2. evaluate the information included in the Information System on the scientific institution;

9.3. evaluate the information available in the Web of Science, SCOPUS, and other database for scientific literature and the results of the bibliometric analysis;

9.4. make onsite visits to the scientific institution which include interviews with employees of the scientific institution and examination of the research infrastructure. During the visits, the scientific institution may additionally organise interviews for the group of experts with the sectoral ministry to which the scientific institution is subordinate, and with the representatives of the involved industries, taking into account the specific nature of the operation of the scientific institution;

9.5. prepare a review on the evaluation results of each scientific institution or the entity to be evaluated referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation (hereinafter - the review).

9.¹ For the implementation of the evaluation, the visits of the groups of experts referred to in Sub-paragraph 9.4 of this Regulation may also take place remotely or partially remotely through online video conferencing if all or any of the members of the group of experts are unable to participate in person due to a state of emergency or exceptional circumstances, in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the state of emergency and exceptional circumstances in Latvia or the occurrence of a state of emergency or exceptional circumstances in the expert's country.

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10. The performer shall, in cooperation with the heads of the group of experts:

10.1. provide an opportunity for the scientific institution to become acquainted with the review and to provide objections and supplements for it within 10 working days from the day when the opportunity to become acquainted with the review was provided thereto;

10.2. after evaluation of the objections and supplements received, prepare a report of each group of experts and the consolidated report of each group of experts;

10.3 award a consolidated institutional evaluation (hereinafter - the consolidated evaluation) to the scientific institution if the scientific institution participates in the evaluation with several entities to be evaluated referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation. The consolidated evaluation shall be awarded in addition to the evaluations awarded to the entities to be evaluated;

10.4 organise a joint evaluation by the representatives of the groups of experts involved in the expert-examination of all entities to be evaluated referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation when awarding the consolidated evaluation to the scientific institution, taking into account the evaluation of each entity to be evaluated, the report of the group of experts and the consolidated report, the scientific research capacity of the entities to be evaluated, and the specific nature of the major fields of science.

[19 November 2024]

11. The Ministry shall, by consulting with sectoral ministries to which scientific institutions are subordinate, the organisations representing scientific institutions, and the Latvian Council of Science, develop and approve the sample form for the self-assessment report.

12. The Ministry shall publish a sample form for the self-assessment report in the Information System until 1 January of the evaluation year.

13. The performer and the scientific institution shall provide the group of experts with the information necessary for fulfilling the tasks referred to in Paragraph 9 of this Regulation and organisational support.

14. The group of experts shall, while fulfilling the tasks referred to in Paragraph 9 of this Regulation, comply with these basic evaluation principles (hereinafter - the basic evaluation principles):

14.1. in evaluating the quality of scientific activity, fundamental and applied research shall be evaluated as equally significant;

14.2. in evaluating the impact of scientific activity on the relevant major field of science, its impact on the related major fields, the conformity with the objectives of the State scientific and technological development, as well as education and innovation development policy shall be evaluated;

14.3. in evaluating the economic and social impact of scientific activity, the potential of scientific results to promote higher education, social equality, integration and welfare, public health, national security, sustainable development of the social, economic and culture field, public understanding of the significance of scientific activity, as well as impact on the achievement of the objectives, development of priorities and fields of the Smart Specialisation Strategy shall be evaluated;

14.4. in evaluating the research infrastructure and its conformity with the operation of the scientific institution, the conformity with the institutional management, ensuring open access, long-term development, and resource planning shall be evaluated;

14.5. in evaluating the development potential of the scientific institution, the following aspects shall be evaluated:

14.5.1. the future vision of the scientific institution, including an evaluation to what extent the evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the scientific institutions is justified;

14.5.2. the development plan of the scientific institution for the management of the following factors:

14.5.2.1. the ability of the selected scientific objectives to influence the international scientific community;

14.5.2.2. the ability to initiate new research directions;

14.5.2.3. the ability to attract students, doctoral candidates, and foreign researchers;

14.5.2.4. the ability to attract funding as a result of tenders;

14.5.2.5. international competitiveness of the academic staff;

14.6. in evaluating the quality of scientific activity, the cooperation of the scientific institution with the sector of national economy corresponding to the field of its activity shall be evaluated.

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15. The group of experts shall, by following the basic evaluation principles and justifying the evaluation in the report of the group of experts with a qualitative analysis of the acquired results:

15.1. award a score to the scientific institution in the amount of one to five points;

15.2. if the scientific institution is a higher education institution the structure of which includes more than one faculty, evaluate each entity to be evaluated of the higher education institution (hereinafter - the entity to be evaluated) and award a score in the amount of one to five points to each entity to be evaluated. The number of entities to be evaluated in a higher education institution shall not exceed the number of faculties or the number of strategic directions of the higher education institution. The entities to be evaluated comprise the whole scientific activity of the higher education institution as the scientific institution. The higher education institution shall determine the type of entities to be evaluated (for example, faculties, research platforms, centres) in conformity with the condition that all entities to be evaluated are of one type, as well as determine the group of experts referred to in Sub-paragraph 6.1 of this Regulation necessary for the entity to be evaluated.

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16. A scientific institution shall, until 1 January of the evaluation year, notify the Ministry in writing of the conformity of the institution with the major fields of science in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the major fields of science, the fields and subfields of science of Latvia.

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17. A scientific institution which is a higher education institution and the structure of which includes faculties shall, until 1 January of the evaluation year, notify the Ministry in writing of the number of planned entities to be evaluated and the conformity of each entity to be evaluated with the major fields of science in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the major fields of science, the fields and subfields of science of Latvia. When reporting on the conformity of each entity to be evaluated with the major fields of science, information about the primary major field of science and the related major fields of science, if applicable, shall be included.

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18. A scientific institution shall submit a filled-in self-assessment report and a scientific institution which is a higher education institution and the structure of which includes more than one faculty shall submit a filled-in self-assessment report on each entity to be evaluated until 30 April of the evaluation year.

19. For the performance of the evaluation in 2019, a scientific institution shall, until 1 November 2018, notify the Ministry in writing of the conformity of the institution with the fields of science in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the fields and subfields of science of Latvia.

20. For the performance of the evaluation in 2019, a scientific institution which is a higher education institution and the structure of which includes faculties shall, until 1 November 2018, notify the Ministry in writing of the planned number of entities to be evaluated and the conformity of each entity to be evaluated with the fields of science in accordance with the normative regulation regarding the fields and subfields of science of Latvia.

21. For the performance of the evaluation in 2020, considering the travel restrictions and health risks caused by the spread of Covid-19, the visits of the group of experts referred to in Sub-paragraph 9.4 of this Regulation may also take place remotely or partially remotely through online video conferencing (real-time transmission of image and sound) if all or any of the members of the group of experts are unable to participate in person.

[15 September 2020]

22. If scientific institutions are integrated or are to be integrated into a scientific institution through the implementation of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility between 31 October 2022 and 31 May 2026 as part of the higher education and science excellence and governance reform, then that scientific institution in the evaluation for 2025 shall, until 1 January of the evaluation year, notify the Ministry in writing of the decision made on the scientific institution integrated or to be integrated in that scientific institution, specifying:

22.1. whether the consolidated evaluation should take into account the evaluation results of the scientific institution integrated or to be integrated into that scientific institution in the capacity of a separate entity to be evaluated;

22.2. whether the scientific institution integrated or to be integrated into that scientific institution should be evaluated as a separate entity to be evaluated when receiving its evaluation in the capacity of the entity to be evaluated and whether the received evaluation should be included in the consolidated evaluation;

22.3. that the scientific institution integrated or to be integrated into that scientific institution should not be evaluated as a separate entity to be evaluated, but a recommendation from the group of experts about that entity to be evaluated should be received instead;

22.4. that the scientific institution shall participate in the international evaluation as a single scientific institution, submitting one self-assessment report and receiving a joint expert evaluation.

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23. In the evaluation year of 2025, a scientific institution integrated or to be integrated in a scientific institution through the implementation of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility in the period between 31 October 2022 and 31 May 2026 as part of the higher education and science excellence and governance reform need not be counted in the number of the entities to be evaluated of this scientific institution referred to in Sub-paragraph 15.2 of this Regulation as a separate entity to be evaluated.

[19 November 2024]

Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis

Minister for Education and Science Kārlis Šadurskis

Translation © 2025 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)