Abstract
Objective: To observe changes in the number, form (print and online), and distribution (by academic disciplines) of Russian journals indexed in the first three years of the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). Background: The globalization of science and the need to involve Russia in the international process of knowledge exchange have influenced the main directions of publication activity and interaction with the world scientific community.  Methods: Statistical information freely available through the databases of the Scientific Electronic Library of Russia for January 2019 were compared with data from January 2016.  Results: In 2016, the number of Russian journals included in the RSCI was 650; by 2019, the number had increased to 771, an increase of 18.6%. The number of journals with printed and online versions increased by 13.3% to reach 266 units. The number of Russian journals indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science databases increased during the period, as did the number of journals with both print and online versions. Conclusions: Journals from the RSCI database tend also to be added to Scopus or WoS databases and do not remain exclusively as part of the local database. Implementing the RSCI project had a positive impact on the full spectrum of Russian academic journals, which are increasingly committed to improving their work to continue to be part of RSCI or Scopus or WoS databases.
Highlights
In 2014, work began to select the best Russian journals and make them available on the Web of Science platform in the form of a separate database, the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), which is a national bibliographic database, similar to that of a few other countries
In 2016, the number of Russian journals included in the RSCI was 650; by 2019, the number had increased to 771, an increase of 18.6%
The number of journals with printed and online versions increased by 13.3% to reach 266 units.The number of Russian journals indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science databases increased during the period, as did the number of journals with both print and online versions
Summary
In 2014, work began to select the best Russian journals and make them available on the Web of Science platform in the form of a separate database, the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), which is a national bibliographic database, similar to that of a few other countries. An agreement was signed between Clarivate Analytics (earlier Thomson Reuters) and the Russian National Electronic Library (NEL).[1] The first version of RSCI appeared in 2015/16 and included 650 journals.[2] The selection of journals was carried out in two stages: 1. Expert evaluation and public expertise based on online voting by registered users of the RSCI database.[3] In 2018, an updated list of journals indexed in the RSCI was published; low-quality publications were removed and some more high quality journals were added. The decision was made to add or remove a journal from the RSCI based on the opinion of groups of experts specific to each academic discipline.[4] The criteria for evaluating the journals included both formal scientometric indicators and public evaluation by leading Russian scientists. The globalization of science and the need to involve Russia in the international process of knowledge exchange have influenced the main directions of publication activity and interaction with the world scientific community
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