Problems and prospects of the development of social and human sciences in the system of scientific knowledge

Abstract

For many years the humanities have been in the shadow of natural and technical sciences. A significant share of funding - both budgetary and non-budgetary - is distributed in favor of natural and technical sciences, while social sciences and humanities account for only about 5% of funding. Grants provided by the Russian Science Foundation are largely aimed at supporting projects in the field of natural and technical sciences. Currently, there is a need to modernize approaches to research support by redistributing priorities in favor of cross-disciplinary studies (cognitive research, digital technologies, life and social sciences, digital humanities, etc.). The problems of social sciences and humanities are identified based on an integrated analysis of data in the field of natural and social sciences and humanities in the next areas: internal costs of research and development, sources of research and development funding, grant support for research projects by the Russian Science Foundation, and human resources capacity. Economic and statistical methods, as well as methods of grouping and comparative retrospective analysis are used. The data of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), The UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), as well as reports of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) served as the information base for the analysis. The key directions of development of social sciences and humanities are proposed on objective analytical conclusions about the need to intensify support of interdisciplinary scientific research within the framework of state programs of scientific and technological development. The results of the study can be used by public authorities of the Russian Federation in elaborating program documents aimed at the implementation of the state scientific and technological policy.