Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Social Sciences

Zsófia Papp recently published a new article entilted "Do Personalised Campaigns Hint at Legislator Activities? The (lacking) relationship between campaigns and legislator behaviour in Hungary" in Parliamentary Affairs.

In September 2018  Springer published the volume “How to Measure the Quality of Judicial Reasoning” edited by Mátyás Bencze and Gar Yein Ng. 

Some recently published articles contain false statements to deceive public opinion and undermine the reputation of our colleagues and institution, degrading scientific research conducted at the Institute for Sociology of HAS Center for Social Sciences and defaming its publications and their authors. Research activities undertaken by the Institute are widely recognized by the national and international scientific communities, and a significant part of our results are openly accessible. Anyone may verify the fact that research work at our Institute concerns a wide range of acute problems faced by the Hungarian society.

The Institute for Sociology of HAS CS joins the initiative of the Center for Social Sciences (https://tk.mta.hu/tisztelt-olvaso), standing up for our colleagues named in the articles who work at the Center for Social Sciences, in particular, at our Institute, and expressing its solidarity with them.

Furthermore, we fully identify with the statement issued by the Presidency of HAS on 15 June 2018 (http://mta.hu/mta_hirei/az-akademia-ragaszkodik-a-fuggetlensegehez-es-a-kutatas-szabadsagahoz-108811), and support all efforts promoting the freedom in the choice of topics and the publishing of academic research as well as the sustenance of the network of research institutes of HAS.

We would like to thank the supportive statements released by various operators of scientific life.

Gábor Illés, András Körösényi and Rudolf Metz recently published a new article entilted "Broadening the limits of reconstructive leadership: Constructivist elements of Viktor Orbán’s regime-building politics" in The British Journal of Politics & International Relations.

Statement from the Institute of Political Science at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences

An article, making false assertions with the potential to mislead the public and damage the reputation of our colleagues and our institute, has been anonymously published in Figyelő weekly magazine on June 19, 2018. The article is about the research taking place at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences and lists seven of the Institute for Political Science’s researchers by name.

The article claims that among the researchers at our institute "many colleagues have not been too active in producing academic articles in recent years". The Figyelő reported these claims without any context and without any prior inquiry into specific details. Most of the seven researchers publicly scorned in the article are early career researchers, many of who have tasks other than publishing. Others began research at the Institute in the fall of 2017, but there are even others who were on long-term unpaid or parental leave and were taking care of their young children. They can hardly publish at same level as their colleagues. The list of researchers targeted by Figyelő even includes the researcher who was possibly the most successful colleague in international publications, which is also apparent from the online Library of Hungarian Academic Work, a public publication database.

We are delighted if the media writes about the Institute of Political Science’s research findings, the publications of its researchers, and even about specific research colleagues. But perhaps it is worthwhile to get in touch with the relevant institution, to become acquainted with the nature of academic research, including both findings and limitations. Of course, research output and its assessment is important and our “parent institution”, the Centre for Social Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (and thereby the Institute of Political Science as well) is among the strictest in this regard (actually a few years ago this was raised as a concern by the media). Related to this, the Institute for Political Science’s performance is outstanding in both research and publications: the Institute’s researchers published a total of 143 publications in 2017, of which 38 were in foreign languages, and made 40 Hungarian conference presentations and 70 international conference presentations. For those who are interested, there is information about our major research projects and publications on the Institute for Political Science’s website.

David M. Wineroither recently published with Gilg U. H. Seeber a new article entilted Three Worlds of Representation: A Linkage-Based Typology of Parties in Western and Eastern Europe” in East European Politics and Societies and Cultures.

Zsolt Boda and Veronika Patkós recently published a new article entilted "Driven by politics: agenda setting and policy-making in Hungary 2010–2014" in Policy Studies.

Medve-Bálint Gergő recently published a new article entilted "The Cohesion Policy on the EU’s Eastern and Southern Periphery: Misallocated Funds" in Studies in Comparative International Development.