Centre for Civic Education (CCE) once again points to the lack of transparency in the work of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU), as well as the absence of clear rules, scoring methods, and regulations governing the prevention of conflicts of interest.
In the previous period, CCE dealt with the process of electing new members of CANU and pointed out that, according to the current Rulebook on the Procedure for Nominating and Electing Associate, Full and Foreign Members of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts from 2012, potential candidates should be discussed at department meetings. However, in the case of the most recent call, concluded on 23 December 2025, the available minutes contain no information that the candidates were discussed at all. A legal interpretation of the Rulebook was requested only after the vote at the meeting of the Department of Natural Sciences. Additionally, the President of CANU himself, Ljubiša Stanković, indirectly acknowledged the shortcomings of the Rulebook, stating in a media appearance late last year that this year could be an opportunity to consider “fixing” the procedures for electing new CANU members. CCE believes that improving the Rulebook could be the first step toward a more transparent and merit-based election process, but that broader changes in the way CANU operates are also necessary.
The Rulebook does not provide for a scoring list or any other system that would allow transparent comparison of candidates’ references, so it remains unclear according to which criteria CANU members decide on new membership. It is also astonishing that CANU does not have a systematized database of the references of its members. When CCE requested their biographies and references, we were referred to the Academy’s website, the CANU Yearbook website, and the COBISS database. A review of the biographies published on the Academy’s website clearly shows that there is no uniform standard for their presentation – many biographies are written in an essay-like format and do not contain even the basic scientific references. This creates the impression that it is easier to become an academician than a university professor or a research associate at a scientific institute.
We also recall that Milan Marković, Doctor of Legal Sciences and professor at the University of Montenegro (UCG), was the only newly elected associate member in the most recent call, even though the call was announced for as many as nine new members. Among the references listed in his application are speeches and addresses at conferences and round tables, one in memoriam, and papers “in press.” At the same time, among the candidates who were not elected were those who are among the top 2% most cited scientists on the Stanford list – a reference that CANU itself cites when speaking about the quality of its membership. Additionally, at the time of his election to CANU membership, Milan Marković was a member of the commission at the Faculty of Political Sciences of UCG that, in violation of regulations, selected Ivan Jeknić, the son of his colleague, as a student demonstrator, even though he did not meet the requirements. This means that with incomparably fewer references, and at a time when he was at the center of a scandal at his home faculty, Marković was elected an associate member of CANU, while those with more substantial biographies, without additional controversies, were not elected. CCE has still not received the minutes from the session at which this decision was made, so it remains to be seen whether any of the members considered any aspect of this problematic.
Problems with transparency are also visible when it comes to CANU’s external associates. Following a request for free access to information, CCE received information that CANU does not possess biographies of all members of the editorial boards of the Encyclopedia of Montenegro since the beginning of its work who are not Academy members, even though they are paid with the money of all citizens. The question of criteria for selecting associates also arises, since it is difficult to understand that such an institution engages persons whose biographies it does not have in its documentation. CCE believes that all selections of CANU associates must be based on transparent, clear, and merit-based criteria. This is particularly important when it comes to projects that CANU itself describes as projects of “capital importance for culture,” such as the Encyclopedia of Montenegro.
CCE also requested information from CANU about internal acts regulating the prevention of conflicts of interest in the work of the Academy, but CANU informed us that it does not have such acts.
Considering that CANU is financed from the budget of all citizens of Montenegro, this institution has a special responsibility to promote the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and academic excellence through its work. Therefore, CCE calls on CANU to urgently adopt acts regulating the protection of integrity and the prevention of conflicts of interest, and to inform the public about the planned amendments to the Rulebook in order to ensure a transparent and merit-based process for electing new members. CANU must also select external associates more transparently, with a clear presentation of their references, especially when it comes to projects of exceptional importance for Montenegro, such as the Encyclopedia of Montenegro should be, bearing in mind the negative experience with the Dictionary of the Montenegrin Vernacular and Literary Language from 2016.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator