The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has registered an updated Regulation on the Competitive Selection of Research and Scientific-Technical (Experimental) Development Projects and the Evaluation of Their Results, developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Order No. 947).

For the first time, the document integrates MES’s largest competitive mechanisms — both the main competition for higher education institutions and the competition for young researchers. The Regulation establishes unified principles for organizing, evaluating, and reporting on projects, regardless of the type of competition.

Key changes include:

🔹 Unified regulation for all competitions:
The rules for the main competition for higher education institutions and the competition for young researchers have been combined.

🔹 Increased support and agency for young researchers:
At least 30% of total annual funding is allocated to competitions for young researchers — this amount is fixed. Young researchers must make up at least 50% of the MES Scientific and Expert Council.

🔹 Involvement of NASU researchers:
Researchers from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) can now be full members of university project teams.

🔹 Transparent, automated expert evaluation via a unified system:
Three independent reviewers are assigned, with mandatory review of score deviations exceeding ±25%. Project and report distribution is automated through the National Electronic Research Information System (URIS), with mandatory conflict-of-interest checks.

🔹 Introduction of the Expert Code of Conduct:
New rules for experts cover integrity, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and objectivity.

🔹 Strict academic integrity requirements:
Plagiarism, data falsification, the "purchase" of research work, indicators and results, or cooperation with the Russian Federation are now grounds for disqualification. A special Expert Ethics Committee has been introduced. Acceptable uses of AI are also defined.

🔹 Rejection of artificial scientometrics:
The practice of aggregating citation counts, H-indexes, or attaching "letters of interest or implementation" has been abolished. The focus shifts to project quality and expected outcomes.

The Regulation enters into force upon its official publication.

The Ministry is preparing to launch the relevant competitions starting in September 2025, ensuring that results can be finalized by the end of the calendar year and funding can begin in January 2026.

Original announcement