Science in Armenia Will Weaken in Favor of the Corrupt Interests of the Science Committee President: Ioannissian

The founder and program coordinator of the Civic Consciousness NGO, Daniel Ioannissian, wrote on his Facebook page: "The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport has circulated a draft of the priorities for the development of science and technology in Armenia for 2020-2024. Naturally, the most space in this draft is given to the biological sciences, closely related to the president of the Science Committee. To include biology in several areas, even the accepted logic of branch divisions in science has been violated. Biology is prevalent in 4 out of the 6 dominant directions, where previous correlative manifestations of corruption have surfaced regarding thematic and government funding. While more than 54% of articles published in journals indexed in the Web of Science are in physics. And although physics is the most developed and stable field of science in Armenia (numerous figures indicate that physics is more established in both Armenia and worldwide than all other sciences combined), it is completely excluded from the priorities for 2020-2024. This is a draft that will weaken science in Armenia in favor of the corrupt interests of the Science Committee president."