Assessing RSCI Economics Journals in the Context of Creating a National Citation Index

Abstract

Abstract The creation of a national scientometric database of scientific periodicals in Russia can solve the problem of identifying leading academic journals. The first step towards its formation was the development of Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). To make it clear whether the contradictions of its first version, released in 2015, were settled, this article analyzes the quantitative indicators, including bibliometric ones, of the 28 economics journals that were included in 2018 in the second version of Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI-2018). The data obtained are compared with the public examination results. To complete the coverage of the list of journals, quantitative and qualitative indicators of several editions not included in RSCI-2018 have been analyzed. It is demonstrated that the shortcomings of the previous version of the list were not eliminated. It is concluded that the list is incomplete; some criteria in compiling it were untransparent and neglected, and the parameters used to select the editions were insufficient. The research results, which make it possible to assess the RSCI potential for the creation of a national scientometric database of scientific periodicals, raise the question of the need to consolidate the efforts of the scientific and expert communities to establish transparent journal selection procedures. Official structures may consider the data obtained to assess the performance of scientific organizations, contributing to an increase in the level of periodicals.

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