In brief

  • The Ministry of Education and Research has approved the minimum criteria for the two senior research grades: principal researcher (R4), that is senior researcher grade I, and established researcher (R3), that is grade II.
  • There are 35 sets of standards, one for each specialist committee, from mathematics through to performing arts. They apply from 1 October 2026, not from publication.
  • They concern researchers who intend to apply for a grade I or grade II post, but also the institutes, which may set their own criteria provided these sit above the national minimum.
Act: MEC Order no. 4.688/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 690 of 20 August 2026
In force from: 1 October 2026

If you are putting together your application file for grade I in research, everything you have worked out so far has to be read again under different rules, and the date from which they apply is 1 October 2026. Order of the Minister of Education and Research no. 4.688 of 18 August 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 690 of 20 August 2026, approves the minimum criteria and standards for conferring the grade of principal researcher (R4) and of established researcher (R3). It is the second major intervention in institute careers this summer, after the heads of national research institutes were moved to public competition.

The order runs to six short articles, and the substance sits in the annex, published separately, in Official Gazette of Romania no. 690 bis, across 317 pages. Article 2 states plainly what it contains: a set of 35 standards specific to groups of fields, structured according to the specialist committees of the Advisory Board for Research, Development and Innovation.

The list of committees covers the whole spectrum of Romanian research. First comes mathematics, then computer science, physics, chemistry, earth sciences, then twelve engineering committees, biology, medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, pharmacy, legal sciences, sociology, political sciences, economic sciences, psychology, philology, philosophy, history, theology, architecture, visual arts and, last, performing arts and music.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is a matter of the calendar and needs to be read carefully. Article 4 provides that the standards apply from 1 October 2026. The order was published on 20 August, so there is a window of roughly six weeks in which the old rules remain applicable to the files being submitted.

The second effect is the shift to a measurement based on the journal’s article influence score. The standards for mathematics, for instance, are built exclusively on the AIS, that is the influence score of the journal in which the article appears, not on the impact factor. The reasoning set out in the annex is explicit: the AIS does not count self-citations from the same journal, and citations are weighted according to the standing of the journals in the subfield.

The third effect is the one the candidate sees in figures. In mathematics, for grade I the following are required, cumulatively: an indicator N of at least 15, calculated as twice the number of articles in quartile Q1 plus the articles in Q2, at least 4 points on the same indicator calculated only over the last seven years, an S1 score of at least 6, an S2 of at least 4, at least 32 citations from first-category journals and 16 from the second, plus at least 3 articles in Q1. For grade II, the thresholds come down to an N of at least 10, an S1 of at least 4, an S2 of at least 3, 16 and 8 citations respectively, and at least one article in Q1.

The fourth effect concerns experience in projects. For grade I, the candidate must have been director or principal investigator in a project won through national or international open competition, or a member of at least three grants won in that way. For grade II, membership of a single project won through open competition is enough.

The fifth effect is one of fairness, expressly provided for. The seven-year period over which recent articles are counted is extended for candidates who have taken maternity or parental leave, through a formula that adds years according to the number of months of leave.

The sixth effect concerns the relationship between the state and the institutes. Research organisations may set their own criteria and standards, in line with their mission and specific character, but Article 3(2) requires these to sit above the national minimum. In other words, more may be asked, never less.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The most visible change is the name of the grades itself. The order uses the European research career framework, R3 and R4, and sets it alongside the classic Romanian names, senior researcher grade II and grade I. This follows from Law no. 183/2024 on the status of research, development and innovation staff, one of the legal bases of the order.

The second change is the institutional architecture. The standards come from the Advisory Board for Research, Development and Innovation, and their implementation falls, under Article 5, to the specialist directorates within the National Authority for Research, set up by Government Decision no. 188/2025, together with the board and the research organisations.

The third change, a subtler one, concerns what these standards do not do. For each committee, the annex states that meeting the thresholds is a necessary condition for submitting the application file, but not a sufficient one for obtaining the post, and that the quantitative standards must not be used for the ranking of candidates. The ranking remains the exclusive prerogative of the selection committee, which assesses the quality of the contributions.

The fourth change concerns journals charging publication fees. The reasoning in the annex explains why these are excluded, as a general rule, from the calculation of the minimum standards: not every candidate has access to funding for such fees, and including them would create inequities. The exclusion does not mean that work published there is ignored; the selection committee assesses it qualitatively, alongside the rest of the file.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • It publishes verifiable numerical thresholds, by field, so that a candidate can work out their own file before submitting it.
  • It leaves six weeks between publication and application, so files already in preparation are not caught off guard.
  • It expressly provides for the reference period to be extended for maternity or parental leave, a fairness correction rarely found in grids of this kind.
  • It chooses the article influence score over the impact factor, with written reasoning that rules out self-citations from the same journal.
  • It states plainly that the thresholds do not serve the ranking of candidates, which limits how far a competition can turn into a mere contest of points.

What remains a problem

  • The text runs to 317 pages and 35 different sets of criteria, so comparing across fields becomes practically impossible for an outsider.
  • The thresholds depend on the UEFISCDI lists and the quartile rankings, which are updated separately and can move a journal from one category to another from one year to the next.
  • Institutes may raise the bar through their own criteria, which means the same grade can be harder to obtain in one place than in another.
  • Excluding journals charging publication fees from the calculation solves one inequity, but creates another for the fields in which fee-based open publishing is the dominant practice.
  • The calculation formula requires data from the five preceding years for the AIS scores, so putting the file together remains a considerable piece of archive work.

Practical advice

  1. First check which committee you fall under. The 35 sets differ substantially, and a threshold in mathematics says nothing about one in philology or in dental medicine.
  2. If your file is almost ready, work out whether you can submit it before 1 October 2026. The new standards apply from that date.
  3. For the AIS scores, use the tables published by UEFISCDI or Web of Science for the years preceding submission. The formula takes the maximum of the scores calculated over the five preceding years, so it is worth checking each year, not only the last one.
  4. Divide the score of each article by the number of authors. The S1 and S2 indicators are calculated as a sum of ratios between the journal score and the number of co-authors, not as a plain sum of scores.
  5. If you have taken maternity or parental leave, apply the formula that extends the reference period. It can bring into the calculation articles that would otherwise have fallen outside the seven-year window.
  6. Ask at your institute whether it has its own criteria. The law allows it to require more than the national minimum, and those criteria do not appear in the Official Gazette of Romania.
  7. Do not confuse the condition for entering with the criterion for winning. The thresholds only allow you to submit the file; the ranking is done by the selection committee, on the quality of the contributions.

Frequently asked questions

When do the new standards start to apply?
From 1 October 2026, under Article 4 of the order, not from the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania. The order was published on 20 August 2026.
What do R3 and R4 mean?
They are the names used in the European research career framework. R4, principal researcher, corresponds to the grade of senior researcher grade I, while R3, established researcher, corresponds to grade II.
How many sets of criteria are there?
35, one for each specialist committee of the Advisory Board for Research, Development and Innovation, from mathematics through to performing arts and music.
Can my institute require more than the order provides?
Yes. Article 3 allows research organisations to set their own criteria and standards, but these must sit above the minimum level of the national standards approved by the order. They cannot be more permissive.
If I meet the thresholds, do I get the grade?
No. The annex states that the minimum standards are a necessary condition for submitting the application file, but not a sufficient one for obtaining the post. The ranking of candidates is the exclusive prerogative of the selection committee, which assesses the quality of the contributions.
Do articles in journals charging publication fees count?
As a general rule, not for the calculation of the minimum standards, so as not to disadvantage candidates without access to funding for such fees. The selection committee does, however, assess them qualitatively, together with the rest of the file.
Where do I find the criteria for my field?
In the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 690 bis of 20 August 2026, pages 3-319. The official edition in PDF format is attached to this article.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 690 of 20 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 119 KB the act starts on page 12

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The other editions cited: nr. 690 bis/2026

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.