Objectives:
The study presents research results on the practical aspects of interpreting and applying statutory promotion criteria in the Polish higher education and science system. The research compares the legal interpretation of the conditions for academic promotion with their understanding and application in the review process. The requirements for promotion achievements were analysed through the prism of two criteria: scientific writing and the subject, nature, and importance of the contribution to the state of knowledge as conditions for academic promotion. The scope of the study did not cover scientific achievements documented in the form of a project, construction, technological, or implementation work. The study aimed to seek answers to the following questions: in what form of scientific writing and on what subject, nature, and importance should scientific achievements be presented in promotion proceedings so that their author can effectively apply for a scientific degree or title in a given field of science and discipline.

Material and methods:
Descriptive statistics is used to analyse the survey results, limiting the presentation to the distribution of response frequencies in numerical and percentage terms. Some results are presented graphically in bar charts to facilitate comparison between individual categories.

Results:
Although the legislator has defined uniform conditions for academic promotion in all fields and disciplines, research results have shown that in practice, there are significant differences in their application in different areas of knowledge.

Conclusions:
Further research is required to assess whether equality before the law and procedural fairness are fully implemented in promotion procedures.