Russian Researchers: Professional Values, Remuneration and Attitudes to Science Policy

P. 249–272.

Gokhberg L., Kitova G. A., Kuznetsova T.

Improving human potential in R&D and increasing its performance are key to the development of human capital globally. The topic of R&D personnel has been on Russia’s S&T policy agenda for roughly 20 years. There are numerous reasons for the persistence and even aggravation of existing problems. In the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the R&D sector went through a serious economic crisis. Amid negative changes in the internal and external environment there was a sharp drop in the provision of resources for research, reducing the productivity of research and experimental activity and its contribution to the development of the economy and society as a whole (Gokhberg et al. 2011; Kuznetsova 2013). Global positions in this area have also deteriorated.  The level of publication activity in the country shifted from 3rd place during the Soviet era to 6th place at the start of the 1990s, and to 15th place in 2013. In the period 2000–2013 the proportion of publications by Russian authors in scientific journals indexed by Web of Science decreased from 3.22–1.92 % (Brazil—2.48 %, Japan—5.27 %, USA—24.85 %). However, in terms of patent activity (in 2013 28,765 patent applications filed in Russia by residents, 44,914—by residents and non-residents), Russia occupies the sixth position globally, but based on the number of applications per one million of the population (240.0)—it is only at the end of the top 30 globally.

Keywords: science policy, Russian Researchers

In book

The Science and Technology Labor Force: The Value of Doctorate Holders and Development of Professional Careers

Dordrecht: Springer, 2016.