The social significance and quality of scientific research largely depend on the usefulness of research results for the social and scientific community. The lack of funds and the desire to allocate funding to high-quality research projects make the assessment of the quality of research and the valorization of knowledge increasingly important. However, it is very difficult to apply criteria that can objectively assess scientific research, providing precise qualitative and quantitative data on which funding agencies could base their decisions. The product of scientific research is mainly information published in scientific journals. They are the basis for the dissemination of knowledge and the basic criteria for academic and scientific evaluation, fundraising for scientific research and career advancement. In addition to the evaluation of scientific publications, there is a wide range of other activities that reflect the scientific credibility of scientists, such as: number and quality of grants for scientific research projects, leadership in national or international academic societies, membership in editorial boards of reputable journals, doctoral dissertation mentorships and the like. Although these activities are important and give credibility to the scientist, the relevant scientometric systems cover only publications, neglecting other criteria of scientific importance in evaluation for purpose of academic advancement of a scientist, as well as competitions for grants for financial support of scientific research. The reason for this is the fact that these activities, regardless of their importance, are very heterogeneous, with specific characteristics, and require very diverse parameters for evaluation. Therefore, there are no universal evaluation criteria for these activities and their quality is generally assessed individually, depending on the purpose of the assessment. Regardless of the shortcomings, university ranking systems are important comparative parameters for assessing the quality of scientific and educational value of universities.

Societal importance and the quality of scientific research highly depend on the usefulness of the results of research for the societal and scientific community. The wish to allocate the funds to high-quali-ty research and to establish right criteria for scientific evaluation and academic career progression, make scientific criteria increasingly important to measure the quality of research and knowledge valorization. However, it is very difficult to apply the right criteria which can objectively assess scientific research. For many years, there has been a great interest in scientific ranking and evaluation of scientific journals, but also of sci-entific contribution of scientists. It is generally accepted that the IF (WoS) and the total number of citations of articles published in the journal, are the most relevant parameters of the journal's significance. However, the significance of a scientist and the value of their scientific production are much more complicated to evaluate and they cannot be directly reflected by the importance of the journals in which their articles are published. In this article, the authors describe and evaluate the most known scientific databases which are used in science. The majority of existing science metric systems, which evaluate the achievement of scientists are focused solely on the number of citations of their articles. For example, H-index, which is calculated as the lowest ranked ar-ticle which number of citations matches its ranking number, has considerable shortcoming because it does not take into account the individual contribution of each author and allows expanding author lists with authors whose contribution may be insignificant or none. Therefore, the authors propose Z-score, as a new science met-ric system, which takes into account the author's contribution to the scientific article and greatly remedy major discrepancies in evaluating scientific production of individual authors and institutions.

The small intestine is a challenging organ for clinical and radiological evaluation. The introduction of radiological imaging techniques, which do not significantly disturb patients’ comfort and safety, attempts to obtain an adequate diagnosis and valuable information. The aim is to determine the capabilities and potential of ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) enterography to establish the diagnosis and to evaluate the severity and activity of intestinal inflammation. Conventional ultrasound is a suitable orientation method in the initial evaluation of patients with Crohn’s disease. At the same time, contrast-enhanced MR enterography provides an excellent assessment of disease activity, as well as the complications that accompany it. Contrast-enhanced MR enterography, combined with DWI, allows for excellent evaluation of disease activity and problems or difficulties following it. The examination can be repeated, controlled and can monitor patients with this disease.

Instructions for administering some drugs and indications for their use raise certain dilemmas and controversies questioning the appropriateness of the treatment in this way. In this article, some controversies regarding the prescribing of statins in patients whose blood cholesterol level is normal and the use of anticoagulants in the elderly patients without blood clots prior to the treatment are described. Also, it is discussed about some controversies regarding the use of the insulin analogues in the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus.

Today, there are several well-known global ranking lists for ranking universities in the world. While some of them ranked only a few hundreds of best and most influential universities, there are those that include a much larger number of ranking scientific institutions. One such global list which ranks the largest number of scientific institutions and scientists in the world is called Webometrics list. This list is very important for less developed economies and developing countries which have not established a sufficient quality control system of higher education quality, so this list serves as a corrective to the international evaluation of a wide range of universities in the world. In such a complex IT system of ranking an extremely large number of institutions and scientists, this system shows some disadvantages when ranking, which of course can be overcome by introducing certain improvements within the system of ranking. Systems that perform the collection, analysis, and indexing data have their advantages and disadvantages, which can sometimes lead to a misinterpretation of the data collected. Among other things, we will consider the possible solutions which would improve the rating system and prevent possible manipulation and uncertainty in the presentation of current and final results ranking.

Introduction: Spleen acts as blood reservoir both in animals and human beings. Spleen contracts during the exercise and so augment the systemic circulation and helps body to maintain longer on high intensity exercise. Reviewing all available literature, the human spleen shows a decrease in volume, in range from 8% to 56%, depending on the work intensity. Aim: To evaluate the percentage of the decrease in splenic volume after the treadmill exercise at specific workloads: aerobic threshold intensity, anaerobic threshold intensity, submaximal intensity and maximal intensity. Methods: This prospective study with repeated measurements included 16 healthy subjects, divided in two groups. First group consisted of 8 elite long-distance runners and second group of 8 recreational runners. First testing consisted of treadmill ergospirometry test. This data was crucial for the second testing where subjects were exercising on treadmill at specific workloads. Four specific workloads were determined: treadmill exercise at aerobic threshold intensity (1st workload), anaerobic threshold intensity (2nd workload), submaximal intensity (3rd workload) and maximal intensity (4th workload). Workloads were controlled by the speed of treadmill, for each subject individually regarding the ergospirometry test. Ultrasound measurement of spleen was done before and after each workload. Results: Elite long-distance runners showed greater spleen contraction than recreational runners after four workloads. Spleen contraction was the biggest after the 3rd workload in elite long-distance runners. Smallest contraction was in group of recreational runners after the 1st workload. Statistically significant difference was not found between the groups, regarding the splenic volume after exercise at four specific workloads (p>0.05). Conclusion: Elite long-distance runners had greater decrease in splenic volume than recreational runners, after exercise at four specific workloads, without significant difference. Greatest decrease happened in elite long-distance runners, after exercise at submaximal intensity - 49% decrease in splenic volume.