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Background:The Framework Programme (FP7) is the main instrument of the EU for financing research, and participation in the programme benefits greatly to countries' technological development. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to assess the participation of Croatian organisations in FP7 in terms of specific programmes, funding schemes and the coordinator organisations. Methods: In order to assess this participation, two analyses have been done: the first is the analysis of participation itself analysing the basic characteristics of Croatian participation in FP7 using participation data. The second analysis is the analysis of external conditions for participation, i.e. a framework that influenced the quantity and the quality of participation in FP7. Results: Participation of Croatian institutions in the FP7 has the following features: the positive rate of the national and the EU financial contribution; an unequal regional distribution; a small number of projects coordinated by Croatian participants; a low success rate and rare participation in large research projects. Conclusions: Support should be provided to researchers in order to increase the participation in future funding programmes. First, researchers should perform only research and not the project administration since it requires well-educated and trained administration staff. Second, participants in future projects, especially coordinators, should be financially rewarded.

Scientific productivity is one of the engines of development in the 21 st century. The most common way of its measurement is through publication in peer-review articles. Current research indicates that there is a strong connection between country's development and its share in the world publication of scientific articles. Transition countries are still catching-up with the most developed countries in terms of scientific productivity, which is especially evident in Western Balkan countries. As one of the rare attempts to assess obstacles to scientific productivity in transition countries, this study investigates different factors and their effects to the scientific productivity. The obstacles are the results of the historical reasons, inadequate systems for advancement in the scientific community, and problems with the development and/or implementation of strategies for scientific development of the particular country. In addition, without efficient measurement of scientific productivity, it is hard to analyse its behaviour. Papers written by authors from transition countries are often published in local journals that are covered insufficiently by the Web of Science. Therefore, up-to-date systems for tracking scientific publications in transition countries are of the highest importance.