Two full professors, three associate professors and three assistant professors from the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature were elected to academic positions in violation of the rules prescribed by the current Law on Higher Education of Montenegro, because they do not have a sufficient number of papers on the relevant lists, according to research by "Vijesti".
Apart from the fact that this fact calls into question the basis for the payment of their salaries, which are paid from the budget and are formed on the basis of academic titles, the functioning of the faculty itself is also problematic because in that case there is not a sufficient number of lecturers who are elected to the title based on the regulations of Montenegro, which is against the Law on Higher Education.
Not enough works on lists
On the basis of the Law on Higher Education, in 2019, the Council for Higher Education established rigorous conditions and criteria for selection into academic positions, according to which a person who is selected for an academic position must have a certain number of works on the citation lists, i.e. bases of scientific works such as is prestigious Web of Science (WOS).
"A person who is elected to an academic title in the appropriate scientific fields should satisfy the following qualitative criteria: the scientific and research results of the candidate have been published in journals that are on the citation lists, i.e. databases of scientific works SCI/SCIE/SSCI/AHCI", and that in categories: Q1 (journals that are in the first 25% of the WOS list), Q2 (in the first 50%), Q3 (in the first in the first 75%) and Q4 (other journals)," the act reads.
The status of the journal is evaluated at the time of publication of the candidate's paper, which means that the paper cannot be evaluated if it was published in a journal that was not on the list at that time, but was included later.
For an assistant professor, it is necessary to have at least eight points for works published in renowned journals, for the title of associate professor at least 8 points (after the previous selection), and for the title of full professor at least 16 points (after the previous selection).
Social and humanities have a mitigating circumstance that dictates that a weight coefficient of 1.5 is applied when scoring publications, which means that papers published in these journals are scored as follows: Q1 – 15, Q2 – 12, Q3 – 9 and Q4 – 6 points.
Also, when it comes to the ranking of magazines, it is tried to favor the candidate, so that the ranking of magazines from Scopus a base that is less rigorous than WOS: only papers that are on the SCI/SCIE/SSCI/AHCI lists are considered, and the ranking of journals from Scopufrom the base if it is more favorable for the candidate.
Looking at the WOS database, it is clear that full professors Dr. Adnan Čirgić and Dr. Sofija Kalezić, then associate professors Dr. Vladimir Vojinović, Dr. Boban Batrićević and Dr. Andrijana Nikolić, and assistant professors Dr. Aleksandar Radoman, Dr. Ethem Mandić and Dr. Milan Marković did not meet the basic requirement for selection into academic titles according to the rules valid in Montenegro.
Čirgić has nine works, all of which were published in the magazine Lingua Montenegrin whose publisher is FCJK, and whose editor is Čirgić himself, and which is not in any of the four listed lists, but in the ESCI list. This list represents a kind of "purgatory" for candidate journals, and a "lobby" for entering the four main lists. This year, there were 8.138 journals on the ESCI list, of which only a small percentage will pass several years of rigorous control and be included in the SCI/SCIE/SSCI/AHCI lists of the best scientific journals. That is why, according to the current Montenegrin regulations, works on the ESCI list are not evaluated during the selection process for academic positions.
Professor Geoffrey Bill from the University of Colorado, creator of the famous "Bill's List" in which he lists the so-called predatory journals and publishers, often criticized the ESCI list for its easy criteria that led to the inclusion of a large number of predatory journals.
Kalezić is the only one to have a paper on the AHCI list, published in 2022 in the journal Literary review, which has been on the AHCI list since 2020, but at the Q4 level (it is at the same level in Scopus base), which means that she had to publish three such in order to be elected to the position of full professor. U Lingua Montenegrin has 12 published texts.
Radoman published 22 papers in Lingua Montenegrin, and one in Literary review, but in 2018, when the journal was not on the AHCI list. Even if the magazine had been on the list, Radoman would not have met the requirement of 8 points with that paper, because one paper in the Q4 magazine carries 6 points. Therefore, he had to publish a minimum of two papers at that level.
As for Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić, none of them meet the requirements for the position of assistant professor, let alone associate professor according to official Montenegrin regulations. A look at the WOS database clearly shows that each of them published their work only in the journal Lingua Montenegrin, namely: Vojinović one, Batrićević nine, Nikolić four, Mandić three, Marković three...
FCJK will not say which papers are in prestigious magazines
When asked by "Vijesti" which works on the SCI/SCIE/SSCI/AHCI lists Čirgić, Radoman, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić, FCJK answered that all the mentioned professors "have works published in prestigious scientific journals." ” They do not state which magazines they are, nor on which list they are.
"For the sake of the public - apart from the fact that FCJK professors have published works in foreign journals and anthologies - their works can also be found in the journal Lingua Montenegrina, indexed in the prestigious WEB OF SCIENCE database (ESCI list). It is not a bad thing to boast that this journal published by FCJK is recognized and highly valued in the Slavic world today, as evidenced by the fact that, for example, in the Republic of Croatia it is included in the highest category of journals (A1) on their national list of scientific international journals," they say. from FCJK.
This year, close to 700 euros have been allocated from the budget for FCJK, and the amount of salary depends on the academic titles.
The conditions and criteria for selection into academic titles also foresee the application of equivalence, which is applied in exceptional cases, according to which a scientific monograph issued by a renowned international publisher can be recognized as one paper in a Q1 journal, and a chapter in a monograph issued by a renowned international publisher can be recognized as one paper in the Q3 journal. With that, "the candidate can use for equivalence only one of the categories listed in Article 12 of this act and only one contribution from that category can be equivalent to work in the corresponding journal".
"Vijesti" did not manage to obtain data that any author from FCJK managed to do such a thing, and FCJK claim that everything that was said in the answer to the previous question also applies to this question.
"With a note that the prestigious publisher Lexington Books (Pennsylvania, USA) published not works, but monographs of two professors of FCJK", says the answer signed by the dean of FCJK Aleksandar Radoman.
In 2020, Adnan Čirgić published a monograph Dialectology of the Montenegrin Language published by Lexington Books. This is a translation of Čirgić's earlier study published in Montenegrin in 2017. Lexington Books is not on the list of renowned international publishers established by the Council for Higher Education in its document prescribing the conditions for election to the title, which includes nearly 90 publishers.
Lexington Books operates as part of the Rowman and Littlefield publishing group, while the Council lists Rowman and Littlefield Publishers as a separate publisher that is also part of the same publishing group. There are other examples on the list where the same publishing group has multiple special publishers and they are listed by the Council as separate publishers, not as part of the group.
Titles acquired in Novi Pazar
Čirgić, Radoman, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić were all elected to academic positions in other countries.
The documentation that "Vijesti" had access to showed that all of them were elected to the positions of assistant professor, associate professor and full professor at the International University in Novi Pazar, Serbia, which is colloquially called the "Mufti's University".
It is a private university founded by Muamer Zukorlić, a former religious leader and politician in Serbia, who founded the University in 2002.
It was often in the center of attention due to problems with accreditation for several study programs, so only 20 years after its establishment they managed to accredit all programs.
The International University did not answer the question according to which rules Čirgić, Radoman, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić were elected to the position.
They replied with FCJK: "All the mentioned professors were elected on the basis of positive legal regulations."
The Law on Higher Education does not explicitly prescribe rules on the transfer of titles from one university to another, but it is the practice of most established universities that professors, when transferring to another university, start with a lower title level, which is not the case with FCJK.
The contracts on behalf of FCJK with Radoman, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić were signed by the then Dean of FCJK Adnan Čirgić, while the contract with Čirgić was signed on behalf of FCJK by the President of the Board of Directors of FCJK Milenko Perović.
When asked at which university Čirgić, Radoman, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić were elected, the FCJK did not want to give a precise answer but stated that "all FCJK professors, in accordance with the Law on Higher Education, are acquired where it was supposed to be - at the university,"
In the biographies of Čirgić, Radomana, Kalezić, Vojinović, Batrićević, Nikolić, Marković and Mandić, published on the official website of FCJK, without exception, it is not written where and when they were elected to the profession, and for some it is not even written where they received their doctorate.
When asked on the basis of which regulations the title transfer was approved for eight lecturers, FCJK answered: on the basis of positive legal regulations.
In the FCJK statute, it is written that the academic staff is selected in accordance with the Law on Higher Education and the statute of the university where the selection is made. It is also defined that the Faculty can announce a competition in order to establish a working relationship with a teacher who has already been selected for the position.
The International University in Novi Pazar did not answer a single question from "Vijesti".
Almost 700.000 euros from the budget
Article 23 of the Law on Higher Education deals with the conditions under which a faculty can be established and function.
Article 4 states that it is necessary to "provide academic staff who have been elected to an academic position according to the regulations of Montenegro, of which at least three teachers for basic studies, i.e. two teachers for master studies, with an academic title, who are employed full-time ".
That question was asked publicly when the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature was founded.
FCJK is financed from the budget of Montenegro, so in 2021 it received over 560 thousand euros from the state, in 2022 it received 542 thousand euros, and for 2023 688 thousand euros were allocated.
In July, the salaries of all full-time professors at the University of Montenegro were increased by 65,4 percent, part-time professors by 71,5 percent, and assistant professors by 65,3 percent. In November, the Government of Montenegro harmonized salaries at FCJK with those at UCG, in accordance with the Law on Public Sector Wages.
FCJK was established by the Government of Montenegro in 2014 and reports directly to the Ministry of Education. The ministry was then headed by Slavoljub Stijepović.
Accreditation was approved in June of that year, and the Council for Higher Education was then headed by prof. Dr. Sreten Savićević from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. "Vijesti" contacted Savićević, who did not want to comment on the accreditation process at the time.
The Government's decision was the epilogue of the conflict between the two currents regarding the standardization of the Montenegrin language.
"Vijesti" previously wrote that the sparks among linguists started during the first attempts to standardize the Montenegrin language in 2008. Led by professors at the Faculty of Philosophy, Rajka Glušica and Tatjana Bečanović, part of the linguists did not agree to the introduction of archaisms and localisms into the standard language, as well as to systematic iotation. That was the proposal of another group of professors, led by Čirgić.
Since the linguists could not agree at the sessions of the Language Standardization Council, two proposals came before the commission of the Ministry of Education, which consisted of professors Milenko Perović, Ukrainian professor Ljudmila Vasiljeva and her Zagreb colleague Josip Silić, who decided that the standard should be Čirgić's proposal. Perović later became the president of the FCJK Board of Directors.
Bonus video:
