The article deals with the problems related to the remuneration for the work of public sector employees in Lithuania resulting from different legislation (laws, governmental resolutions and ministerial orders issued on the basis thereof) applied to regulate the conditions of remuneration for the work of public sector employees. In the context of the present economic downturn the situation is even more complicated by unequal adjustment (cutting) of the salaries of the employees in different agencies/organisations which even more distorts the conditions (...) of remuneration for work regulated by different legislation. According to the authors of the article, the setting of the conditions of remuneration for the work of public employees requires uniform criteria to be applied to the differentiation of the salaries and wages. It is illogical to increase salaries/wages to some employees at the expense of others without taking into consideration the level of responsibility, the complexity and the social value of the work performed as well as the requirements imposed on the employees’ competencies. Furthermore, remuneration for work (especially to highly paid executives and professionals) should be set taking into account not only the complexity of their work, the level of the agency/organisation, etc., but also the contribution (benefit) of a particular employee to both the agency/organisation and the whole society. Such a system of remuneration for work would undoubtedly increase motivation of public sector employees. (shrink)

Background Research involves the systematic collection and analysis of data to enhance understanding of a particular phenomenon. Participation in medical research is crucial for advancing healthcare practices. However, there has been limited focus on understanding the factors that motivate medical students to engage in research. Additionally, in the era of e-learning, the easy accessibility of online resources has contributed to a widespread ‘copy-paste culture’ among digital-native students, which is recognized in academia as plagiarism. Existing studies suggest that a contributing factor (...) to the increasing prevalence of plagiarism is students’ limited understanding of this act. The purpose of this study was to assess medical students’ attitudes toward research and plagiarism, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Attitudes Toward Research (ATR) and Attitudes Toward Plagiarism (ATP) questionnaires. Methods This was a multicenter study conducted among medical undergraduate and postgraduate students attending the three medical universities who were involved in research. Students’ attitudes toward research and plagiarism were assessed using the ATR and ATP questionnaires. The research instruments underwent translation and cultural adaptation in accordance with internationally accepted methodology. The psychometric properties of the ATR and ATP, including validity and reliability, were assessed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the model’s fit to the data. Results The ATR and ATP questionnaires were completed by 793 medical students who were involved in research (647 undergraduates and 146 PhD students). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.917 and 0.822 indicated excellent and good scale reliability for the ATR and ATP questionnaires, respectively. The five-and three- factor structures of ATR and ATP have been validated with maximum likelihood confirmatory analysis, and the results demonstrated an adequate level of model fit (TLI = 0.930, CFI = 0.942 and TLI = 0.924, CFI = 0.943, respectively). Medical students showed a high degree of positive attitudes toward research and favorable scores across all three domains of attitudes toward plagiarism. In multivariate regression models, age was found to be positively associated with favorable attitudes of research usefulness, positive attitudes, relevance to life subscales and total ATR scale (p < 0.001), while PhD study level was related to research anxiety (p < 0.001) and favorable attitudes across all three ATP domains (p < 0.001). Conclusion Medical students who were involved in research showed a high degree of favorable attitudes toward research and plagiarism. Adjusting medical school curricula to include research courses would broaden the students’ interest in scientific research and maximize their impact on the full preservation of research ethics and integrity. (shrink)