[Research career in Argentina].

The National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) was founded in 1958, and the Research Career opened officially two years later (1960). Originally, 214 scientists belonged to this Career, increasing slowly to 3642 members in 1999. There are 5 categories of investigators, besides the Clinical Investigator class for the area of Medical Sciences. Investigators comprise 46%, while Technicians (34%) and Fellows (20%) account for the rest of CONICET research personnel. The low number of Fellows is a matter of worry, although Fellows from universities, local councils and private foundations contribute to increase their total number. There is an irregular regional distribution of Investigators, most of whom work in the Federal Capital and Province of Buenos Aires (61%). Increasing the salary of those living outside the metropolitan area did not solve the problem. Input to the Research Career has been erratic and not well planned, while mechanisms for personnel output due to low productivity or retirement age has had variable and erratic policies. The problem the Research Career is facing is similar to that of other areas of CONICET, due to an extremely low budget. Hopefully, new CONICET authorities will be active scientists considering Science and Technology as a Matter of State, just as important for the country as health, education or recovery of the Malvinas Islands.