Research Administration and the Administrator: U.S.S.R. and U.S.

Observation of the role of the research administrator in scientific research organizations doing similar work in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. presents us with certain essential differences. The Soviet administrator's function is restricted to "pure execution of policy"; he is paid less and accorded less prestige than the scientists and is expected to have training and background in bookkeeping and not science. At the same time, the Soviet scientific director asserts that he spends the greater part of his time on his own research. The role of the larger society and differences in approach to large-scale organization are suggested as factors in this difference. A comparison is made of the structure of financial support in the two countries, the controls over scientific organizations, the part played by scientists and laymen in supervisory authorities in government, the traditional prestige and autonomy of scientists in the U.S.S.R., and the rise in prestige of the administrator attending the rise of big business enterprises in the U.S.A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]