Your research culture:
A self-assessment questionnaire

Bertrand Meyer

What is your research culture?

In assessing computer science researchers for hiring or promotion, the "number of publications" metric:

Is not considered

Is considered, as one indicator among several of equal or greater importance

Plays a major role

Role of the ISI (Thomson, Web of Science) database in assessing computer scientists for hiring, promotion and other evaluations:

It is used

It is not used

Role of the Scopus database in assessing computer scientists for hiring, promotion and other evaluations:

It is used

It is not used

A PhD committee generally consists of:

The advisor and possibly one or more other local faculty members

The advisor, external referees, and possibly local faculty members

External referees and possibly local faculty members, but not the advisor

Local faculty members, but not the advisor

In the process of replacing a professor who retires, the retiring professor:

Has no say and is not consulted

Often plays the principal role

Is consulted, but just as one of the participants

Whom does your organization let use a corporate credit card?

No one

Only the president/rector/vice chancellor and possibly a few top-level administrators.

Upper management, and full professors

Consider the age pyramid of your faculty. Of the following, whose silhouette does it most remind you of?

Winston Churchill

Brigitte Bardot

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Role of the h-index (Hirsch index, Hirsch number) in assessing computer scientists for hiring, promotion and other evaluations:

It is not used

It is occasionally used as a minor criterion along with other assessment mechanisms

It is used as a primary criterion

Those who pursue an academic career after completing a PhD in an organization:

Often stay on in that organization after their PhD

Are generally expected to join another organization

In assessments for promotion, the main criteria are:

Numerical (bibliometric) criteria, such as publication and citation counts

Non-numerical criteria such as assessment of a talk by the candidate and evaluation letters from outside experts

A mix of bibliometric and non-numerical criteria

Introductory (e.g. first-year) courses are generally taught by:

Senior professors

Junior professors

Junior staff (PhD students, postdocs...)

External collaborators (e.g. engineers) or adjuncts

The decision of hiring an academic at higher levels (such as full, associate or assistant professors) is made by:

A committee local to the organization

One person (such as the president/rector/vice chancellor of the university), possibly on the recommendation of a committee

A national commission

The title of professor:

Is reserved for academics at higher ranks

Is used by anyone who teaches

Are professors required to retire at a set age of 65 or younger?

Yes

In assessing publication, the primary source is:

ISI (Web of Science, Thomson)

Microsoft Academic Search

Google Scholar

Scopus

CiteSeer

None of the above

The budget and expenses of a research group are under the control of:

(A) The head of the group

(B) The university's or laboratory's administration

The head of the group or laboratory is named as one of the authors of papers from that group:

Always or almost always

If he or she has started or directed the work, even without in-depth participation in its realization

Only if his or her personal contribution to the realization is as significant as that of the other authors

A typical paper published by your group has (choose the most common situation):

One author

Two to five authors

Six to twenty authors

Over twenty authors

In assessing computer science researchers for hiring or promotion, the following kinds of publication are considered:

Journals only

Refereed journals and refereed conferences

Refereed journals and books

Refereed Journals, refereed conferences and books

None of the above is applicable

The positions of junior professors (hired at most a few years after a PhD):

Are permanent positions

Are limited in time, 3 to 6 years, with possibility of getting a permanent position based on an assessment at the end of that period

Are limited in time, 3 to 6 years, with no expectation by default of conversion to a permanent position

None of the above

Your research culture index

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Your research culture:A self-assessment questionnaire Bertrand Meyer

Your research culture:
A self-assessment questionnaire

Bertrand Meyer