SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL AS THE BASIS OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION: PROBLEMS OF MODERN DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

An article in a scientific journal is the key element of modern scholarly communication system, in which scientific journals act as conductors of national science and researchers to the international level. Integration of Russian scientific journals into the global knowledge system and improving their competitiveness are necessary conditions for improving the competitiveness of Russian science itself.Today, we see a low quality of Russian scientific periodicals with an excessive number of journals. The highly competitive environment and the total use of bibliometric approaches in the research and assessment of science born unfair race for indicators, developing imitation science.The study aims to analyze, determine and propose solutions of topical issues of Russian scientific journals. The article is a case study of the oldest monthly scientific and production journal “Occupational Safety in Industry”. The transformation of the work of the editorial board is considered within the 2016–2019 period. We analyze the history of formation, development and the common problems of restructuring the activities of the editorial boards that have occurred in recent years.It is shown that the formalization of scientometric indicators and their impact on funding cause a sharp increase in the number of authors with multiple affiliations. In general, the use of bibliometrics in Russia has generated a number of systemic risks that threaten the development of national science.The study formulates the tasks and nearest prospects for the development of scientific journals as the basis for a changing scholarly communication system. It is necessary to develop the qualitative scientometrics with new scientometric indices and qualitative author-evaluating indicators (with more precise scientometrics, new tools will appear, including those for identifying dishonest scientists).To improve the evaluation system of Russian scientific journals, we propose: improving the generally accepted scientometric methods taking into account Russian specifics and introducing a system for assessing and monitoring the quality of Russian scientific journals, combining the use of bibliometric information and independent expert evaluation. The creation of high-quality scientometrics is possible with the use of artificial intelligence systems.The proposed steps will build a self-regulatory ecosystem on the Russian space of scholarly communication with well-functioning high-quality expertise, which will determine the future of scientific journals.