Comparative trends in research performance of the Russian universities

Abstract

We analyzed comparative trends in research performance of the Russian institutions based on the quantitative and qualitative data available in the international SciVal, Scopus, web of science and the national Russian databases from 2012 to December 2017. Russian Federation represented 2.0% of the world population and 2% of the researchers while accounting to 2.2% of the world publications (14th place in the world scholarly output) with overall field-weighted citation impact of 0.75. Scholarly output of the Russian authors increased by 79%, field-weighted citation impact by 12% and outputs in top citation percentiles by 21% but without a statistically significant positive association between higher investment in research and development and the increase the national GDP. Scholarly output for the Russian publications in mathematics, physics and astronomy are among 5 top countries. However, field-weighted mass media impact, the number of citations per publication, citations per author and per publication, metrics of international collaboration and the academic–corporation collaboration and economic impact of the Russian research remain low. Routine analysis of the research performance and economic impact of R&D expenditure should be reflected in transparent distribution of state research funding. Legal aspects of the international research must be developed to ensure a complete integration of the Russian science into international research activities.