Russia’s Scientific Collaboration with the Post-Soviet States: Assessment on Web of Science Publications

Abstract

This article explores the state and dynamics of scientific collaboration between Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union except for the Baltic countries, by studying the publication activity of researchers with regard to their joint scientific articles indexed in the Web of Science. Statistical data on the number of bilateral joint publications by authors from the Russian Federation and the above-mentioned FSU countries for 2000–2017 were analyzed, as was the distribution of these publications by years, research areas, and main sponsors and organizations with which the authors were affiliated. Four groups of countries were identified demonstrating the dynamics of the development of research and publication collaboration with Russia that can be defined as actively growing, positive, stagnating, or collapsing. The key research areas of Russia’s scientific collaboration with the post-Soviet states as a whole and with each of them separately were established as were the organizations with which most authors of joint articles are affiliated, the main areas of collaborative research, and their principal sources of funding. Using the indicators of scientific citation, we assess the comparative demand of the scientific community for joint publications broken into partner countries and key research areas. The significant role of universities in maintaining scientific collaboration in unfavorable political and economic conditions was shown.