Centre for Civic Education (CCE) points out that the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (MASA) has no information on when some of the publications it has itself announced will be published, while certain projects have been under implementation for years, and in some cases for almost two decades. Such a practice raises questions about the effectiveness of MASA’s planning documents, as well as accountability in the management of projects predominantly financed from public funds.
CCE previously pointed out that the MASA Lexicographic Centre does not comply with the deadlines for preparing lexicons set out in contracts with the Ministry of Culture and Media, with work on some of them delayed by more than five years, potentially in violation of the Law on Culture. For this reason, through requests for free access to information (FAI), CCE examined the status of other publications previously announced by MASA.
MASA’s responses reveal a concerning pattern – publications are announced in official documents without clear deadlines, while MASA subsequently states, in relation to some of them, that it “does not possess the requested information” regarding the planned publication date.
Thus, when asked when the first volume of the monograph “History of the Montenegrin Novel”, by Tatjana Bečanović, whose preparation was announced in the 2024 Yearbook, would be published, MASA replied that it does not possess the requested information. CCE received the same response regarding the monograph “Image and Word in the Work of Dimitrije Popović”, also announced in the 2024 Yearbook.
Regarding the translation of the novel “When Rulers Quarrel” by the late foreign member of MASA Ismail Kadare, MASA states that the edition is “currently in the final stage of preparation for publication” and that the translation has been submitted to the agency representing Kadare’s copyright, as well as to family members and heirs involved in approving the edition. For this reason, MASA says it cannot specify the publication date. The translation into Montenegrin was first announced in the MASA Yearbook for 2023, without a specified deadline.
From submission of the topic to the start of processing – almost a decade
The data concerning dictionaries are particularly illustrative. According to information provided by MASA, material for the “Dictionary of the Crmnica Speech” and the “Dictionary of the Speech of Riječka Nahija” has been collected, but lexicographic processing has not yet begun. MASA states that the associates working on these topics have been assigned to work on the “Dictionary of the Language of Mihailo Lalić”, which is “currently the priority lexicographic activity”, and that work on the two aforementioned dictionaries will begin only after the first two volumes of Lalić’s dictionary have been submitted for printing, which is planned by the end of 2027. This means that work on the “Dictionary of the Crmnica Speech” and the “Dictionary of the Speech of Riječka Nahija” will not begin before the end of 2027, although the topics were submitted as early as 2018. MASA additionally states that the collection of material itself began only in 2022, four years after the topics were submitted, due to other activities of the Institute.
An even more striking example is the “Dictionary of the Boka Speech”, whose title has meanwhile been changed to the “Dictionary of the Speech of the Tivat Area”. The project was first submitted in 2008, and MASA now states that the collection and processing of material are nearing completion and that it expects the publication to be submitted for printing by the end of 2026. Thus, 18 years will have passed from the submission of the project to its planned submission for printing.
A somewhat more definite deadline exists for the “Dictionary of the Speech of the Pljevlja Area”, work on which began in 2022. According to MASA, the material has been collected and is currently undergoing lexicographic processing, with completion expected by the end of 2026.
The Yearbook as a list of announcements without measurable deadlines
The responses obtained point to serious weaknesses in the planning, monitoring and public reporting of MASA’s publishing projects. CCE has already highlighted a similar problem concerning the failure to establish coordination committees envisaged under agreements and memoranda of cooperation.
The MASA Yearbook, which should serve as the Academy’s principal planning and reporting document, is reduced to a list of announcements without precise deadlines, clearly assigned responsibility or measurable indicators of implementation. It is particularly problematic when MASA, after having previously included certain publications in its own official documents, subsequently states that it does not possess information on their planned publication dates.
Submitting projects on which no work is then undertaken for years, without a publicly available explanation for the delay or a clear revised deadline, cannot be an acceptable standard of operation for an institution predominantly financed from the state budget. Autonomy in scientific and artistic work does not exclude the obligation of responsible planning, monitoring of results and transparent management of public funds.
CCE therefore calls on MASA to publish a comprehensive and updated overview of all active publishing projects, including the year in which each topic was submitted, the start of work, current status, expected completion and publication deadlines, as well as information on the public funds spent to date, and to update this overview regularly on its website. If MASA is able to announce a publication, it must also be able to inform the public when its publication is expected, or clearly explain why no deadline exists or why an established deadline has been missed. When projects are financed from public funds, deadlines, results and accountability for their implementation are not MASA’s internal matter, but an issue of public interest.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator