Publication Activity Trends among Russian Researchers in 2016–2020, Based on International Scientific Citation Databases: Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus

Abstract

Introduction.TheimprovementofRussianresearchers’standingin the global academic space, including the improvement of publication activity indicators, will allow for a better representation of Russia’s scientific achievements. For this reason, this paper presents the results of monitoring the publication activity of Russian researchers, aiming to detect the development trends in Russian science through a comparison of different aspects.MonitoringTools.We monitored the data on the number of articles published by researchers in the Web of Science Core Collection and the Scopus database, comparing our findings across countries and grouping them by STAS priorities, by region (within Russia) and by higher education institution (within Russia). We used themethodsofcomparativeanalysis,groupingsandrankings.Our calculations were based on statistical and mathematical methods. Results.We arrive at a conclusion that the demand for Russian research in the academic community is increasing and that Russia is consolidating its position in the international publication arena, as evidenced by the positive growth dynamics in the number of research articles published inRussia,accordingtotheWebofScienceCoreCollectionand Scopus.Conclusion.The number of articles by Russian researchers (both in general and in the fields prioritised by Russia’s Scientific and Technological Advancement Strategy) continues to increase. At the same time, international citation databases reveal a decrease in the share of articles by Russian researchers in the global publication flow in 2020. One of the reasons behind this trend are the complications caused around the world by the pandemic. The monitoring results can be used for developing a methodology for assessing research activity performance.