Scientometrics and evaluation of publications in social sciences and humanities
The article discusses international and Russian practices of using quantitative indicators to evaluate scholars' publications. It analyzes quality evaluation criteria for journals and materials published in them, criteria for inclusion of these in influential international citation databases and the (non)presence of Russian scientific journals in ERIH PLUS and Scopus. The article studies Russian scholars' publications in the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). It points to the absence of quality evaluation criteria, in certain cases, in Russia or their irrelevance in the context of contemporary research developments in the world which results in discrepancies between international and Russian standards of research evaluation. The article shows that it is necessary to critically revisit certain aspects of the formation and use of citation indices and journal rankings and stresses the importance of an integrated approach to research evaluation. Finally, it offers a number of recommendations.