Geopolitics and publication strategy. Is there a dependance?

Abstract

It was investigated whether the geopolitical situation (the Russian-Ukrainian conflict) has an impact on the strategy of choosing scholarly journals by Russian authors, and what it means if it does. The data on publications of the Russian Federation from 2010 to 2023 were analyzed in comparison with other countries. The limitation of the study is a short observation period, two years, comparable to the cycle of preparation of a scientific publication. A study of the thematic focus, the author’s composition, and international cooperation was conducted. The work used data from Scopus, Web of Science, RSCI and CRIS systems. The global impact of the geopolitical situation on the publication indicators has not been revealed, although trends in international cooperation are changing in the long term. Assumptions are made about the greater impact on the number of publications of the decrease in the activity of universities of the 5-100 project, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the insufficient growth rate of new Russian authors published in Russian journals.