A new audience for the journal

At the end of May the Journal of VNIIZhT (Railway Transport Research Institute), a Russian Railways’ subsidiary, was included in the international database Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Representatives of the scientific community believe that this will not only help increase interest in Russian researchers, but also promote their developments on the international transport market.

As 1520.international was told by Olga Rimskaya, head of the scientific and educational complex of VNIIZhT, the journal publishes the results of scientific research in the field of railway transport technologies and technical means. The authors of articles are Russian scientists, whose works were selected by the journal staff and received at least two positive reviews from leading researchers. 

Before applying for accession to the Directory of Open Access Journals, its staff changed not only the design and style of the inside block, but also tightened the procedure of scientific articles selection. In addition, the journal got a second, foreign name - Russian Railway Science Journal. 

According to Olga Rimskaya, deputy editor-in-chief of the journal, this measure has helped not only bring the publication in line with the DOAJ Commission’s requirements, but also promote it significantly in the foreign information field. Inclusion of VNIIZhT Journal in this database shows that it meets the highest international standards.

“The Directory of Open Access Journals is the largest international multidisciplinary database of open access scientific papers, bringing together more than 17 thousand of the world's leading journals and almost 5 million articles”, says the head of the VNIIZhT research and education complex. – “In addition, DOAJ is integrated into the electronic libraries of universities around the world, which helps raise awareness about the research of our scientists”.

Olga Rimskaya notes that after passing the selection process, the journal is entered into the DOAJ database for an unlimited term, subject to maintaining open access to full-text versions of its articles.

Alexander Vorotnikov, Coordinator of the Expert Council of the Arctic Development Project Office, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, says that previously, in order to receive the title of candidate or doctor of sciences, each scientist had to be cited in international scientific research databases. 

However, in accordance with Decree No. 414 of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 19 March 2022, scientists are exempted for a year from mandatory publication in foreign editions and participation in international scientific conferences to defend their degrees. 

According to Alexander Vorotnikov, this decision is connected with the probable refusal of editions to publish works of Russian scientists. 

“Today, when more and more international libraries and databases are being closed to us, it is very important to look for new platforms to promote our developments,” he believes. – “In order for inventions and scientific articles of the Russian scientific community to be quoted around the world, their works should be cited not only in our country. Besides, inclusion in any database allows us to fulfill our main objective - to help people with our ideas. Articles are published and distributed on an open platform, which means that anyone can bring them to life”. 

It should be noted that since March 2022 VNIIZhT Journal has been included in several other leading world scientometric databases, DIMENSIONS, UNPAYWALL, BASE, JISC, as well as Baidu, the largest Chinese platform of scientometric data.

Anastasia Baranets 

11 july 2022