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The UIS RUSSIA (University Information System RUSSIA), www.cir.ru, operates since 2000 as a freely-accessible Internet-based collective digital library for research and education in social sciences. The system maintains holdings of social domain data and documents obtained from primary sources: government, non-governmental organizations and private holders. Currently the system integrates 1.5+ million documents from 60+ collections. Users' increasing demand for additional holdings and the numerous high-quality resources maintained inside the research community have led the UIS RUSSIA team to develop a distributed network of high-quality holdings among participating organizations. The team is sharing the technology created with other participants ready to adopt the software to process their holdings and make the metadata available for the UIS RUSSIA search engine. Cooperation has started with several journals, online sites and other resources. A user may search across these virtually integrated collections and download full text documents from a holder's server. This approach is particularly appropriate for some partners whose information cannot be held on remote servers due to its status or commercial interests. Support and trouble-shooting is provided by the UIS RUSSIA team. The presentation will discuss the progress of this project.

Not Available ; The importance of fisheries in the national economy needs no emphasis. The reasons for the development of fisheries In India are the same as In many of the Third World countries: the need to (a) increased fish production, (b) secure Income and foreign exchange, and (c) provision of employment opportunities. This paper intends 1. to review and examine the current pace of social science research In marine fisheries, 2.to evaluate the performance of fishery policy and planning in India, and 3.to emphasise the need for sustained contribution of social science research for the integrated development and management of marine fisheries.it Is found that the pace of social science research in the fisheries sector has hither to been rather limited. Excepting a few studies sponsored by Government and also some pioneering attempts by individual social scientists, systematic analytical research Is lacking. The efforts of fishery policy and planning In India, so far, resulted In realising some of the national objectives in terms of growth of marine fish production and exports. information about the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of fishermen is scanty. Due to absence of social science research interms of penodlcal evaluation of planning strategy, implementation mechanism and the resultant benefits, the desired results could not be achieved. Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate or problem oriented researching to Integrate the same with fisheries planning, and also to strengthen the social science research capacity for better development and management of marine fisheries. ; Not Available

This article lays out six propositions centering on a relationship between people-place connections and strategic behavior in natural resource politics. The first two propositions suggest a strong and direct connection between self-identity, place, and how individuals perceive and value the environment. The third, fourth, and fifth propositions tie together social group identity and place, particularly emphasizing the influence of social group identity on strategic behavior in natural resource politics. The sixth proposition relates to the geographic scale of place as a strategic choice in natural resource decision making. Taken together, the propositions suggest that natural resource politics is as much a contest over place meanings as it is a competition among interest groups over scarce resources. The place perspective suggests an expanded role for natural resource social scientists as giving voice to meanings and values that may not otherwise be expressed in natural resource decision-making processes.

The Samples of Anonymized Records (SARs) from the 1991 UK census have proved an outstanding achievement for social science research. Research based on the SARs has taken advantage of the large sample size, the detailed geography, the wide range of socio-demographic variables and the operational flexibility. A wide range of areas has been covered including sociology, human geography and public health. The new SARs from the 2001 UK census will provide an even richer source of information. The availability of the SARs from the two censuses will provide a unique opportunity for studying socio-economic cultural and demographic changes in the UK over the decade and for conducting international comparisons. This article reviews the data structure of the SARs, summarizes some of the most innovative and important findings using the 1991 SARs, and looks at the research potential of the 2001 SARs. The purpose of the article is to encourage even greater use of the SARs.

One of the areas of policy research where randomized field trials have been utilized most intensively is welfare reform. Starting in the late 1960s with experimental tests of a negative income tax and continuing through current experimental tests of recent welfare reforms, randomized evaluations have played a strong and increasing role in informing policy. This paper reviews the record of these experiments and assesses the implications of that record for the use of randomization. The review demonstrates that, while randomized field trials in the area of welfare reform have been professionally conducted and well-run, and have yielded much valuable and credible information, their usefulness has been limited by a number of weaknesses, some of which are inherent in the method and some of which result from constraints imposed by the political process. The conclusion is that randomized field trials have an important but limited role to play in future welfare reform evaluations, and that it is essential that they be supplemented by nonexperimental research.

"Economists have engaged for some time in developing methodologies for assessing the economic impact of agricultural research and in undertaking empirical studies to measure this impact. In recent years, they have documented more than 1,800 estimates of rates of return to agricultural research. Economists have paid little attention, however, to how to evaluate the impact of social science research. A symposium conducted by IFPRI in 1997 was one of the first attempts to address this knowledge gap. In November 2001, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IFPRI brought together a group of researchers to follow up on the earlier symposium. Their conclusions fell into two broad categories: how to measure or value the economic impact of policy-oriented social science research and how to enhance the effectiveness of such research in policymaking environments.A number of lessons emerged from the workshop for donors, governments, and researchers about how to enhance the effectiveness of policy-oriented social science research. Donors and governments should: encourage the development of independent, well-managed, high-quality policy research institutions; improve the linkages between research and policy formulation; and invest in studying the policy processes, training, and promoting economic literacy. Research institutions should: know what impacts donors value; ensure that the impacts of value to donors coincide with those of the people and their governments; make ex ante and ex post impact evaluation a part of their core business; create incentive and reward systems consistent with the policy objectives of the agencies that commission or make use of research outputs; undertake more multidisciplinary research on evaluating and enhancing impact, including policy processes; build policy epistemic communities involving all stakeholders; and never compromise on quality and objectivity in the quest for impact. Because much remains to be learned about evaluating the impact of policy-oriented social science research, the workshop participants concluded that IFPRI should take the lead in developing a consortium to help improve interdisciplinary methods of assessing impact. The consortium would consist of institutions, donors, and individuals and would work in partnership with developing countries. Institutions could learn from each other about best practices and in the process exploit synergies, thereby increasing effectiveness and reducing the costs of what is an expensive undertaking." -- Authors' Abstract." ; Non-PR ; IA; IFPRI1 ; DGO

This report presents the results from a stakeholder dialogue launched by the WBCSD, which involved some 40 participants from major companies, non-governmental organizations, and legal and political experts in extended discussions over controversial issues of intellectual property rights in the application of modern biotechnology to medical R&D. The dialogue process was moderated by the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB). It took place from May 2001 to July 2002 and proceeded through face-to-face meetings and via internet exchanges, engaging participants in three topics: access to human genetic resources, protection of traditional knowledge, access to essential medicines. While the participants retained their diverging perspectives and concerns in many respects, they were nevertheless able to identify some common ground regarding the nature of the problems and possible options for dealing with them. The main emphasis was on what companies could do, and should do, within their corporate strategies to address these controversial issues.

The channelling of US aid funds into a drive to increase productivity was an important feature of the reconstruction of Western Europe after World War Two. Located within the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), the European Productivity Agency (EPA) played a key role in organising this productivity drive between 1953 and 1962 by constructing a network of national productivity centres. As an OEEC member state, Ireland joined the EPA when it was set up. But it did not take a significant part in the Agency's activities until 1959 when the government approval for the setting up of an Irish national productivity centre given almost a decade earlier was finally put into effect. At the EPA's prompting, a National Joint Committee on the Human Sciences and Their Application to Industry (HSC) – probably the first body involved in providing public funding support for the creation of a social science research infrastructure in Ireland - was also set up. This working paper traces the history of the HSC. It examines the initiatives the HSC took in conjunction with EPA from 1959 to 1962, how it survived the EPA's demise to provide support for social science research projects after becoming a component part of the Irish national productivity centre and how a radical restructuring of the national productivity centre in the early 1970s set the stage for the demise of its role in supporting research by the end of that decade. The paper's conclusion indicates the intended next stage of this work in progress. It also tentatively draws out the implications of this particular study for the broader understanding of how Ireland began to `open up' its economy and society at the end of the 1950s and of the role that direct and indirect US aid played in this process.

For the first time ever in the Federal Republic of Germany a mediation procedure on a waste management concept has been carried out. It took place in Neuss in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The interdisciplinary project group, Environmental Mediation, from the Science Centre Berlin for Social Research (WZB) was one of the initiators of the mediation project. It conducted social science research that accompanied the procedure throughout. The procedure began in March 1992 and ended in August 1993 with a controversial compromise; in particular, it proved impossible to reach agreement on the question of whether waste incineration was objectively necessary and legally required. The results presented here should be seen as a workshop report; the final report is planned for winter 1995. This paper will provide an overview of events leading up to the mediation procedure and the course it has taken, in conjunction with the methodological approach of the parallel empirical research and the international comparative studies that are still going on. It will then report some of the central findings from our participatory observation and questionnaire survey, and examine the influence of the normal political process before, during and after the mediation procedure. The problem of success and failure as criteria for assessing the results of the mediation will be discussed. The conclusion drawn is that, although the mediation procedure in Neuss did not manage to counter the gravitational force of the normal political process, certain aspects indicating a positive conflict resolution have emerged as well as results that are not normally possible to achieve in formal (conventional) procedures. ; Zum ersten Mal wurde in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ein Mediationsverfahren zu einem Abfallwirtschaftskonzept durchgeführt. Es fand im Kreiss Neuss (NRW) statt und ist von der interdisziplinären WZB-Projektgruppe Media-tionsverfahren im Umweltschutz mit initiiert und sozialwissenschaftlich begleitet worden. Das Verfahren begann im März 1992 und endete im August 1993 mit einem strittigen Kompromiß: insbesondere über die Frage, ob eine Müllverbrennungsanlage sachlich notwendig und rechtlich erforderlich sei, konnte keine Einigung erzielt werden. Bei den hier vorgetragenen Ergebnissen handelt es sich um einen Werkstattbericht, der Endbericht wird Ende 1994 unter dem Titel Umweltverhandeln im Verlag edition sigma, Berlin, erscheinen. In diesem Beitrag wird - neben einem Überblick zur Vorgeschichte und zum Ablauf des Mediationsverfahrens, zum methodischen Vorgehen der empirischen Begleitforschung sowie zu den noch laufenden internationalen Vergleichsstudien - über einige zentrale Befunde aus der teilnehmenden Beobachtung und der Fragebogenerhebungen sowie zum Einfluß des politischen Nornalprozesses vor, während und nach dem Mediationsverfahren berichtet. Erfolg und Mißerfolg als Kriterien zur Bewertung von Mediationsergebnissen werden problematisiert. Fazit ist, daß durch das Neusser Mediationsverfahren die Gravitationskräfte des politischen Normalprozesses nicht aufgehoben werden konnten, sich aber Formen und Ergebnisse einer positiven Konfliktregelung ergeben haben, die in förmlichen Regelungsverfahren üblicherweise nicht erreichbar sind.

The challenge to research management is threefold: first, to define the vision of a research institution, to determine the nature of its potential innovative contributions. Second, to develop the organizational prerequisites for meeting these goals, ensuring that the structures of the institution correspond to the demands. And, third, to create an internal environment which will promote the type of creativity envisioned. Innovation springs from a totally different way of looking at the subject at hand: what kind of new perspective is needed for social science research? How can an innovative approach be institutionalized and given a chance to succeed? And, given that the demands of such an institution do not correspond to the traditional demands on social scientists, what kinds of internal incentives and structures can be developed to stimulate and reward the unusual type of creativity desired? This paper seeks to answer some of these questions by abstracting from experiences with a particular model in social science research and by drawing on the relevant organizational literature.

The article concentrates on the most essential elements of a social science as research, whereby research is strictly interpreted as the verification of a theory in a particular field but neither as "theorie sans terrain" nor "terrain sans theorie". Yet even if this particular employment in the field of social science is explicitly conceived of as privileging the logic of discovery and the strictures of proof in opposite to all preconstructed themes, theories and traditions of different disciplines, it cannot simply be reduced to the standpoint of pure logic. Engagement for social science as reflexive research means to further its practical, political acceptance by using the results obtained from research, means fighting for her autonomisation in terms of contributing to the creation of appropriate forms of sociability for its activities and reception (such as the formation of a reading public, discussion forums, effective tools with which to combat social barriers to the attainment of knowledge, etc.). ; The article concentrates on the most essential elements of a social science as research, whereby research is strictly interpreted as the verification of a theory in a particular field but neither as "theorie sans terrain" nor "terrain sans theorie". Yet even if this particular employment in the field of social science is explicitly conceived of as privileging the logic of discovery and the strictures of proof in opposite to all preconstructed themes, theories and traditions of different disciplines, it cannot simply be reduced to the standpoint of pure logic. Engagement for social science as reflexive research means to further its practical, political acceptance by using the results obtained from research, means fighting for her autonomisation in terms of contributing to the creation of appropriate forms of sociability for its activities and reception (such as the formation of a reading public, discussion forums, effective tools with which to combat social barriers to the attainment of knowledge, etc.).

. In 1986, I participated in a review of polar science in Canada that resulted in the publication of Canada and Polar Science (Roots, E.F., et al., 1987, report to the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa K1A 0H4). . This year, I was able to survey polar researchers in Canadian universities to determine whether, from their point of view, the findings described in Canada and Polar Science had become dated. In doing this, I gained the impression that there have been some changes in this matter of "relevant" northern research. These are some of my impressions; the results of my survey appear in Canada and Polar Science Revisited (Adams, W.P., 1992, Canadian Polar Commission, Suite 1710, 360 Albert Street, Ottawa K1R 7X7). First, insofar as it can be used as a measure of "relevant" science, there appears to have been some increase in social science research in the North and some gain in confidence among social researchers working there. . Another interesting development since 1986 has been the way in which the term "global change" has captured the imaginations of a wide cross-section of the public and researchers. . The increased public acceptance of the "relevance" of global change research appears to be particularly marked among northern residents. Ozone depletion, greenhouse warming, atmospheric and ocean pollution, and the focusing of contaminants at key points in the food chain are all examples of environmental degradation that have particularly serious implications for those who live at high latitudes. . Also, since 1986, devolution of power to the territories has put various aspects of the management of research into the control of northerners. . Although less marked than some of the other changes that I have tried to describe, it is my impression that university researchers are now more interested in "aboriginal science." This is a matter of very special cultural significance in terms of the involvement of native northerners in research. It is a matter about which there is a feeling of urgency in the North, as many feel that the generation that has the distinctive aboriginal view of the universe and that has the local ecological knowledge is passing. In my survey, I heard of a number of cooperative social and environmental projects that involve both Western and aboriginal science. .

There has long been a tendency among policy researchers in food and agriculture to view ministries of finance and agriculture as their main, if not only, constituencies. This paper argues that greater insight that links the outcomes of research to real policy problems and processes makes for better scientific inquiry. The author contends that policy research needs to recognize multiple constituencies from the onset of the research process. This paper discusses requirements for effective policy research incorporating broad participation and ownership of the research process and presents this approach in the context of IFPRI's research on urban farming in Uganda and food insecurity awareness generation in Ghana. The benefits and implications for using this approach are highlighted. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1

In the discussion of the sociological and political science research on the unification of Germany the positions range from the view that intra-German transformation has been successful on the whole and that it has begun to stabilize to contentions that eastern Germany has been colonized by western German actors and that Germany's unification has failed. Between these two poles lie arguments calling attention to newly emerging differences between eastern and western Germany. Critically reviewing assessments of German unification, I come to four conclusions. First, the social science discussion about the topic is divided into two debates. One of them is centered on the controversy between the modernisation thesis and assertions by skeptics and critics. The other debate is focused on the problems of controling intra-German transformation. Second, the discussion is largely isolated from research on transformation underway in eastern and central Europe at large. Third, the evaluation of the process, impacts, and perspectives of German unification is affected by the theoretical position of the researchers and the methodological design of their studies. Fourth, the future development of social science research on German unification is being determined by two trends, internationalization and regionalization.

Faced with having to justify programs to offices of management and budget, government agencies generate numbers which describe expected program impacts. But the assumptions or data on which these numbers are based are frequently suspect, as is the utility of relying on counts and modeling techniques for evaluating the achievement of program aims. The result is that agencies often create "concrete fictions," hard numbers with feet of (soft) clay. Offices of management and budget are able to make their methodology "hegemonic" because agencies usually have to secure their approval to get funding. But imposing this methodology encourages agencies to use research staffs more to defend against the budget office than to help create effective programs, creates differences between the expectations of government and the public, and fosters the overrepresentation of particular interests.