Postgraduate students of some Russian universities had problems with defending their dissertations and obtaining the degree of Candidate of Sciences. Admission to defense often requires scientific publications in journals that are indexed on foreign Internet sites Web of Science and Scopus. The geopolitical situation made this condition unrealistic, post-graduate students from several universities told Izvestia.
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“I have a publication in a Russian indexed publication, but as a safety net, I sent an article to a European journal of the third quartile (rank) at the end of December. For a long time they answered that an article under consideration is a normal practice, usually two months is a minimum. But at the end of February, they simply stopped communicating,” said graduate student Kristina (not her real name).
She clarified that at her university, immediately after graduating from graduate school, “catastrophically few guys” came out to defend.
“Many supervisors informally advised to wait until the fall, when they can soften or even cancel the requirements for such publications, at least for candidates,” the graduate student explained.
Another interlocutor of Izvestia, Anastasia, a third-year graduate student, said that she needed to have three publications, one of which should be published in a foreign publication with WoS or Scopus indexing.
“I prepared two articles in Russian journals, and then, together with the supervisor, we took part in the conference in absentia, the reports from which are indexed in WoS. But it still has not received indexation, ”she said.
The Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) and educational institutions meet the needs of future candidates of science and allow articles in domestic publications to be dispensed with, but their list is not large, and the queues for publication are long, experts told Izvestia.