Clocking and Scientific Research: the opinion of the scientific community.

The following chapters assemble the opinions and standpoints of italian and foreign scientists with regard to the assessment of results of research work.

This collection was inspired by a manifesto signed by researchers from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and associated universi- ties, which was distributed to the international scientific community. The circumstance giving rise to this intellectual mobilization was the absence of any sign that the promised experimentation to evaluate work performed by government researchers was to start. The scientific community was prompt in giving its support as this document testify.

Research activity is assessed according to its content and results. Italian law, however, stipulates that for all government agencies, hence research in- stitutes such as INFN, performance should be monitored using pre-defined objective procedures. For all government institutes and agencies this assess- ment is based on clocking in and out.