Publication Activity of Russian Researches in Leading International Scientific Journals

Abstract

The primary aim of this research report is to analyse the dynamics and structure of the publications of Russian authors, as well as to define the place of Russian science in the global scientific process. Bibliometric analysis methods are the main methods for quantitative analysis of scientific cooperation, efficiency, and other aspects of scientific activity.

The information base for this research includes materials from science citation databases containing bibliographic descriptions of the articles published in scientific journals (mainly written in English) in a significant number of fields of science. Various parameters (e.g. dynamics of the number of publications, the number of citation, the level of co-authorship, the scientific specialization index, etc.) at various levels of aggregation (e.g. individual researchers, research organizations, countries and regions of the world) can be calculated based on these data.

The results of bibliometric studies can be used in a number of ways: analysis of latest trends in the development of various scientific fields; evaluation of the effectiveness of research organizations; overall assessment of the scientific potential of Russia (its strengths and weaknesses); identification the most productive scientists in various fields of science; drawing the international comparisons of publications; analysis of collaboration networks of scientific teams.

The paper analyses the basic indicators of the publication activity of scientists in Russia and the leading countries over the period between 2001 and 2011. Publication activity of Russian scientists is analysed in the context of specific areas of science. This allows the identification of areas of specialization of Russian publications. The paper also examines the dynamics of highly-cited publications and the indicators of the international scientific collaboration of Russian researchers. In this paper, materials of Web of Science database were used for analysis of publication activity.

Keywords: publication activity, publication analysis, bibliometric analysis, bibliometric indicators, bibliometrics, publications of Russian authors, level of citation, cross-country analysis, Web of Science, Scopus, international comparisons, citation amalysis, Matthew index, scientometrics

JEL Classification: C00, A00, Z00, F01