Russian Academy of Sciences gets reorganization reprieve

Science : Russian scientists’ complaints about President Vladimir Putin’s plan to merge the 289-year-old Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) with two smaller academies has resulted in a change in proposed legislation. Instead of immediately merging, RAS will have three more years of independence in which it will have to institute a variety of changes to increase its effectiveness. A proposed change that would remove distinctions in membership levels was also eliminated. However, management of RAS property will be shifted to a new agency. Although many Russian scientists admit that the various systems RAS manages need to be reformed, the general consensus is that the original proposals did nothing to make things better, and likely would have made things worse. A group of 70 current members have said that if the merger does take place, they would not maintain their membership in the organization.