Russia against the background of world leaders in the field of life sciences

LIVING SYSTEMS AND RUSSIAN SCIENCEVladimir Sychev, Alexey Kolesnichenko, STRF.ru
Intensively developing fields of science require objective assessments that allow us to judge the effectiveness of the work of scientists, research teams and institutes.

There are various criteria that allow us to evaluate both the effectiveness of individual scientists and entire scientific institutions. Park-Media specialists analyzed global information arrays in order to find out what place Russian science occupies in such a field of knowledge as "Living Systems"

Living systems in Russia: a look through the prism of scientific publicationsIntensively developing fields of science require objective assessments that allow us to judge the effectiveness of the work performed in them.

There are various criteria that allow us to evaluate both the effectiveness of individual scientists and entire scientific institutions. Ultimately, it is possible to assess the level of development of scientific research in individual states.

The obvious way to determine the qualifications and activity of researchers is the availability of publications on the research topic. This applies to both individual specialists and entire research centers. This approach has obvious advantages.

Firstly, it is the most objective – publications are the most widespread and generally accepted product of scientific work, it is in them that the results of the search activity of scientists are reflected and distributed in the world.

Secondly, publication activity is easily considered, especially in recent years, with the advent of new large databases of scientific publications.  At the same time, we note that different counting systems index different scientific publications, and therefore sometimes give different data, but there are no serious discrepancies in figures and dynamics in Russia.

In this regard, an analysis of the publication activity (PA) of Russian researchers working in the priority area of "Living Systems" was carried out in the period from 1996 to 2008, using the international database database SCOPUS. "Living Systems" is formally the second in terms of funding (after nanotechnology), but ranks first in terms of ensuring the quality of life of the country's population. The purpose of the analysis was to identify those areas of the "Living Systems" direction in which work in Russia is carried out most intensively, while the level of these works should be high enough. The study examined not only the number of publications, but also identified institutes and research centers – leaders of research in various fields that can become a kind of "crystallization centers" of work in the field of living systems in Russia.

Research methodologyThe data contained in the international database SCOPUS were used in the work.

Scopus Abstract Database (www.scopus.com ) is the world's largest single abstract database that indexes more than 15,000 titles of scientific, technical and medical publications from approximately 4,000 international publishers. To date, more than 300 Russian scientific journals are represented in the SCOPUS database.

Not all areas of the life sciences were analyzed, but only those whose results have a pronounced applied value. The choice of these areas was not difficult: we proceeded from the priorities approved in May 2006 by the President of the Russian Federation for the development of science, technology and technology in the Russian Federation. They, recall, include:

On May 21, 2006, the President of the Russian Federation approved a list of 34 critical technologies of the Russian Federation, some of which belong to the section "living systems". The list of critical technologies of the Russian Federation in the field of "Living Systems" includes the following critical technologies analyzed in this paper:

• Bioinformatics technologies
• Biocatalytic, biosynthetic and biosensor technologies
• Biomedical and veterinary technologies of life support and protection of humans and animals
• Genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines
• Cellular technologies
• Bioengineering technologies
• Technologies for creating biocompatible materials

Thus, these seven critical technologies were chosen for the study. Using a set of search keywords, the total number of articles published annually by domestic authors in both Russian and foreign scientific journals presented in the SCOPUS database was calculated separately for each critical technology.  Each list of keywords was necessarily accompanied by the affiliation "Russia". In each of the selected areas, the annual number of Russian and foreign journals in which articles on this topic by Russian authors working in Russia were published was calculated.

It should be noted that a considerable part of the work is carried out not only in individual research teams, but also in the framework of interdisciplinary projects carried out by scientific consortia, which include various institutes. These data were also taken into account during the study.

Russia against the background of world leaders in the field of life sciencesFigure 1a. Total number of publications on biology in the period from 1996 to 2008

 


 
Fig. 1b. Total number of publications on biology in the period from 1996 to 2008 (excluding the USA)If we consider publications in biology in the world for 1996-2008, the following picture emerges (Fig. 1a, b).

The United States is the undisputed leader in publication activity: during this period of time, the PA increased from 192 to 251 thousand articles per year.

At the same time, the most active EU countries in the field of science (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy) also showed an upward trend (however, for Great Britain and Germany, it was replaced by a slight decline in the last two or three years). Of these four countries, Italy has achieved the greatest increase in the number of publications: over 12 years, the number of publications authored by Italian scientists has increased 1.6 times and reached 35 thousand articles per year. Switzerland demonstrates a slight increase in articles on biology (from 8.8 to 13.7 thousand articles).

Special attention should be paid to the growth of articles published by scientists from countries belonging to the BRIC group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), which experts refer to countries with growing economies. However, from the point of view of the development of science, it is much more appropriate to talk about a group of three states – Russia, as can be seen from the graph, falls out of this four.

If in 1996 Russia, China and Brazil had almost equal starting positions – (6.4, 6.2 and 5 thousand articles, respectively), then later the picture changed dramatically, primarily due to an unprecedented increase in the number of articles by Chinese authors (57.4 thousand articles in 2008 – China currently ranks fourth in the world in terms of the number of articles on biology, overtaking even Germany), and Brazil has 19 thousand articles in 2008. India has been increasing its PA over the years, going from 11 thousand articles in 1996 to almost 26 thousand articles in 2008 – and the eighth place in the list of countries. At first, Brazil showed a small, and in recent years, a noticeable increase, surpassing Switzerland in the number of publications (13.7 thousand articles in 2008). In twelve years, the number of publications by authors from South Korea has increased fivefold: from 3.3 to 16.7 thousand articles.

And only Russia, against the background of the growth of the PA of China, India and Brazil, demonstrates (after a slight rise in the PA in 2000-2003) its own special path, namely, the tendency to recession (a decrease from 6.4 to 5.9 thousand articles per year).

Let's take a closer look at the structure of the publication activity of Russian authors in each of the areas of living systems related to critical technologies.

Bioinformatics technologiesBioinformatics technologies are a relatively new branch of life sciences, rapidly developing all over the world.

The rapid growth of work in this direction is due to the need to process huge amounts of information accumulated during biological experiments.

Russian bioinformatics is no exception in this case. Since the end of the nineties, when works in this field in our country were counted in units, their number has grown to five hundred articles per year. Although there has been a decrease in the growth rate of publication activity in the last year, the strongest research progress has been observed in this area (Fig. 2). The keywords for the search were "bioinformatics", "comparative genomics", "computational".

Fig. 2. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of bioinformatics technologies.

Fig. 3. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of bioinformatics technologies published in Russian and international journalsAccording to the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 7 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 3 articles, respectively, the number of researchers actively working in this field can be roughly estimated as within 1000 people.

Among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, one can distinguish such institutes as the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS (84 articles), the Institute of Molecular Biology named after V.A.Engelhardt (82), the Institute of Mathematics named after Soboleva SB RAS (69), Institute of Cytology (40), Institute of Problems of Information Transmission (38).

As part of the RAMS, research in this area is conducted less actively, most of them were carried out at the V.N.Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (37), a number of works are being carried out at the N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (16), the N.F.Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (13), D.I.Ivanovsky Institute of Virology (11).

Among the state scientific centers out of competition are the FSUE SSC GosNIIGenetics (102 articles), further – the Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology named after A.N.Belozersky Moscow State University (42), the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, 27).

The undisputed leader among universities is Lomonosov Moscow State University (448 articles), followed by St. Petersburg State University (67), Novosibirsk State University (57), St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University (33) with a significant margin.

Thus, bioinformatics technologies are currently actively developing (the number of publications increased by almost 5 times in 2002-2008), work in the field of this critical technology is carried out at a fairly high level, the vast majority of articles are published in international journals (Fig. 3). But this is understandable: bioinformatics does not require expensive laboratory equipment and reagents. Computers and software are the main tool of bioinformatics. The same areas of living systems that are directly related to working at laboratory tables are much more modestly represented in terms of publication activity.

Biocatalytic, biosynthetic and biosensor technologiesThis section of critical technologies of living systems consists of three fairly independent subsections, and therefore they need to be analyzed separately.

Biocatalytic technologiesBiocatalytic technologies among the academies of sciences are most actively developed in the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

But the number of publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database consistently ranges from 40 to 50 papers per year, without showing an upward trend (Fig. 4). The keywords for the search were "biocatalysis", "enzymatic", "catalysis".

Fig. 4. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of biocatalysis technologies.The works made by our scientists in this field are published mainly in Russian journals, such as "Biochemistry", "Microbiology", "Bioorganic Chemistry", "Successes of Chemical Sciences".

But a considerable part of the work is published in such international journals as "FEBS Letters", "Biotechnology and Bioengineering", "Biocatalysis and Biotransformation", "Journal of Molecular Catalysis B Enzymatic".

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field showed that among the research institutes and research centers, research in this direction was conducted in the FSUE SSC GosNIIGenetics (12 articles) and the Research Institute for the Search for New Antibiotics named after G.F.Gause (8).

Among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the greatest publication activity in this field was noted at the Institute of Catalysis. Boreskov SB RAS (23 articles), Institute of Organic Chemistry named after Zelinsky RAS (19), Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms RAS (12).

From the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, research in this area was conducted at the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (12 articles) and the All-Russian Cardiological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (7).

Among higher educational institutions, the most active research was conducted at Lomonosov Moscow State University (175 articles), other universities have only isolated publications.

In general, the publication activity of Russian scientists in the field of biocatalysis technologies is very low. However, we note that almost 60% of articles on this topic are published in international journals (Fig. 5), which indicates a fairly high qualification of researchers working in this field.

Biosynthetic technologiesBiosynthetic technologies are being developed much more actively, which is probably due to the fact that they are more "old" in terms of the history of these works in our country.

But here the number of publications (which is an order of magnitude more than in biocatalysis technologies), not only fluctuates in a certain "corridor", but has also decreased somewhat over the past three years (Fig. 6). The keywords for the search were "biosynthesis", "synthesis".

Fig. 6. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of biosynthesis technologies.The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in Russian journals, such as "Microbiology", "Biochemistry", "Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine", "Genetics", "Molecular Biology".

Fig. 7. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of biosynthesis technologies published in Russian and international journals.According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 5 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 2.58 articles, respectively, the number of researchers actively working in this field can be estimated approximately within 700 people.

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field has shown that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the following organizations have the greatest publication activity in this field: the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms. K.G.Scriabin (228 articles), V.A.Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (206), N.D.Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry (178), K.A.Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology (171), Institute of Molecular Genetics (109).

Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most active research in this area was conducted at the N.F. Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (191).

Among higher educational institutions, the most active research in the field of biosynthesis technologies was conducted at Moscow State University (997 articles), as well as St. Petersburg State University (129), I.M.Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy (90), Kazan State University (84), Lomonosov Moscow Academy of Fine Chemical Technologies (59).

Biosynthetic technologies are perhaps the only critical technologies in which there is such a clear decline in publication activity in 2002-2008, although there was some growth in the period 1996-2002. Despite a slight increase in the number of publications in international journals that occurred by 2008 (Fig. 7), during this period there was a significant drop in the number of publications in Russian journals.

Biosensor technologies

Biosensor technologies are a fairly new direction in the development of living systems technologies, which is actively developing all over the world. The number of publications on this topic by Russian scientists included in the SCOPUS database has increased by 2 times in recent years – from 80 to 160 papers per year (Fig. 8). The search keywords were "biosensor", "biochip", "biomarker".Figure 8. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of biosensor technologies.

The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in international journals such as "Biosensors and Bioelectronics", "Journal of Analytical Chemistry", "Bioelectrochemistry", "Analytical Letters", "Biomedical Engineering".

Some of the works of Russian researchers carried out in this field are published in such Russian journals as "Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology", "Biochemistry", "Molecular Biology".

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the greatest publication activity in this field was noted at the V.A.Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (49 articles), the A.M.Prokhorov Institute of General Physics (33), the A.V. Institute of Crystallography.Shubnikov (31), K.G.Scriabin Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms (17), Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics (15).

Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most active research in this area was conducted at the V.N. Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (74 articles).

Among higher educational institutions, the most active research in the field of biosynthesis technologies was conducted at Lomonosov Moscow State University (362 articles), Kazan State University (87), St. Petersburg State University (65).

According to the analysis of the publication activity of Russian scientists, biosensor technologies are among the fastest growing critical technologies. From 2002 to 2008, the publication activity of Russian scientists on this topic increased by one and a half times, mainly due to an increase in the number of publications in international journals (Fig. 9).

Assessing the state of affairs in the field of critical technologies in these areas as a whole, it can be concluded that, although biosensor technologies are intensively developing, there is stagnation in biocatalyst technologies, and a clear decline in biosynthesis technologies, apparently due to insufficient attention and funding in this area.

Biomedical and veterinary technologies of life support and protection of humans and animalsBiomedical and veterinary technologies were also analyzed separately, since journals of the corresponding orientation are easily and accurately isolated in the SCOPUS database.

Biomedical technologies of life support and human protectionBiomedical life support technologies have been developed for a long period of time.

The number of publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has grown over the past 12 years from 500 papers in 1996 to more than 1,000 in 2007, but in 2008 there was a slight decrease in the number of published papers (Fig. 10).

10. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of biomedical and life support technologies and human protection.

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most active research in this area was conducted at the V.N.Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (711 publications), the All-Russian Cardiology Research Center (97) and the Russian Cancer Research Center named after V.N. Orekhovich. Blokhina (97).

Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Biomedical Problems has the greatest publication activity in this area (471 publications), followed by the Institute of General Physics named after A.M.Prokhorov (107), the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (100), the Institute of Chemical Physics named after A.M. Prokhorov (107), the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (100), the Institute of Chemical Physics named after Semenova (98).

Among higher educational institutions, the most active research was conducted at Lomonosov Moscow State University (1282 articles), I.M.Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy (166), St. Petersburg State University (159), Russian State Medical University (136).

Among the scientific organizations belonging to departmental structures, work in the field of biomedical life support and human protection technologies was carried out in such organizations as the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Vitamins (118 articles), FSUE SSC S.I.Vavilov State Optical Institute (39), the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (38), Scientific andpractical center of medical radiology (37).

Generally speaking, biomedical technologies are among the actively developing technologies of living systems. In 2002-2008, the number of articles in this field increased by more than 30%, and reached 70% of the total number of articles in the field of medicine registered in the SCOPUS database. During this period of time, the number of articles published on this topic in international journals grew especially strongly (Fig. 11). This direction is actively developing both in the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and in the specialized institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, institutes of the Ministry of Health and Social Development and medical higher educational institutions.

Veterinary technologies of life support and animal protectionVeterinary technologies have also been developed in the Russian Federation for quite a long time.

The number of publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has grown almost 2 times over the past 12 years – from 100 to about 200 papers per year, however, in recent years there has been a slight decrease in the number of published papers (Fig. 12).

12. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of veterinary life support technologies and animal protection.The works of Russian scientists in the field of veterinary life support technologies and animal protection are published mainly in Russian journals, such as "Radiobiology", "Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine", "Radiation Biology and Radioecology", "Biological Bulletin", "Pharmacology and Toxicology", "Journal of Microbiology, Epidemiology and Immunobiology", "Questions of virology".

 
13. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of veterinary life support technologies and animal protection published in Russian and international journals.According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 9 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 1.56 articles, respectively, the number of researchers actively working in this field can be estimated approximately within 1200 people.

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers work in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most active research in this area was carried out in the Medical Radiological Center (75 publications), the Institute of Virology named after D.I.Ivanovsky (49), the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F.Gamalei (21). Among research institutes and scientific research centers, research in this direction is conducted at the Institute of Biophysics of the Ministry of Health and Social Development (89 articles), the Scientific Research Center of Virology and Bacteriology "Vector" (21), the Federal State Research Institute of Oncology named after N.N.Petrov (21). Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Cytology has the greatest publication activity in this area (47 publications), I.P.Pavlov Institute of Physiology (45), N.N.Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics (38), V.A.Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (36), Institute of Biochemical Physics (35). Among higher educational institutions, the most active research in the field of veterinary technologies for animal protection was conducted at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (261 publications), the Military Medical Academy (St. Petersburg, 44), the I.M.Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy (29).

Genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines

Genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines are a new direction of pharmacology that promises to be very promising in the future. The number of Russian publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has doubled in recent years – from 300 to 600 papers per year in the field of genomic research in general and from 100 to 200 in the field of their application in pharmacology (Fig. 14). The search keywords were "genomics", "transcriptomics", "proteomics", "drug", "target", "drugs delivery", "antibiotic".

  
14. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines.

The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in Russian journals, such as "Molecular Biology", "Biochemistry", "Genetics", "Microbiology", "Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine", "Questions of Medical Chemistry", "Antibiotics and Chemotherapy". Some of the works of Russian researchers carried out in this field are published in such international journals as "FEBS Letters", "Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal", "Journal of Biological Chemistry", "Biophysics". 

 
Figure 15. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines published in Russian and international journals.

According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 7.15 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 3.24 articles. In general, about 1,200 people are engaged in genomic and postgenomic technologies, of which about 400 people are in the field of creating medicines. An analysis of the organizations in which researchers work in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Cytology (67 articles), the Institute of Molecular Biology named after V.A.Engelhardt (66), the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS (54), the Institute of Molecular Genetics (50), Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (43), Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after Academicians M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov (26), Institute of Organic Chemistry named after N.D.Zelinsky (20). Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, research in this area was conducted at the N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (46), the D.I.Ivanovsky Institute of Virology (35), the Institute of Experimental Medicine (30), the V.N.Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (21). Among the research institutes and SSC, the most Research in this direction is conducted at the FSUE State Research Center GosNIIGenetics (53 articles), the State Research Center of Virology and Bacteriology "Vector" (22). Among higher educational institutions, the most active research in the field of genomic and postgenomic technologies was conducted at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (194 articles), St. Petersburg State University (29), Moscow Medical Academy named after I.M.Sechenov (13). Genomic and postgenomic technologies for the creation of medicines are most actively developed in the RAS, RAMS and institutes of the Ministry of Health, and in 2002-2008 there was an increase in the number of publications in this field almost twofold. The absolute majority of the works included in the SCOPUS database on these technologies have been published in international journals (Fig. 15). However, despite the existing critical technology related to biomedicine, it seems necessary to take a closer look at the purely medical component of living systems as a factor that most affects the quality of life of the population. At the same time, we will focus on such actively developing areas around the world as targeted drug delivery, the development of new drugs for the treatment of socially significant diseases, the creation of new antibiotics and antitumor drugs – in other words, the main components of scientific research for pharmacology.

Targeted drug delivery systemsOne of the main directions of the development of medical biotechnologies in the world is the creation of systems for targeted delivery of medicinal compounds to pathologically altered cells and tissues of the body.

The development of such will significantly increase the effectiveness of drug therapy of diseases.

Fig. 16. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of creating targeted drug delivery systems.

The most active Russian scientific organizations working in this field are: As part of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov (34 publications), Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS (26), Institute of Molecular Biology. Engelhardt (24), Institute of Gene Biology (15). As part of the RAMS: Blokhin Cancer Research Center (12), Institute of Biomedical Chemistry named after Orekhovich (12). Among the universities: Lomonosov Moscow State University (31), Lomonosov Academy of Fine Chemical Technologies (13). At the same time, research institutes and state scientific centers had only isolated publications.

Creation of new antitumor agents and methods for the diagnosis of oncological diseases

Among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the leading role in the work on this topic belongs to the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS (16 articles), the Institute of Molecular Biology named after V.A.Engelhardt (13), the Institute of Applied Physics (Nizhny Novgorod, 11), the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after V.A. Engelhardt (13), the Institute of Applied Physics (Nizhny Novgorod, 11), the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry. academicians M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov (10). As part of the RAMS, the work is carried out mainly at the N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (64 articles).

  
Fig. 17. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of creating new antitumor agents and methods of diagnosing oncological diseasesDevelopment of new antibiotics and treatments for socially significant diseases

In this area, which is certainly of great importance for our country due to the widespread prevalence of socially significant diseases (tuberculosis, AIDS, viral hepatitis B and C), the following organizations show the greatest publication activity: as part of the Russian Academy of Sciences –:Institute of Organic Chemistry named after Zelinsky (37), Institute of Organoelement Compounds named after Nesmeyanov (30), M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (27), V.A.Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (25), as part of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences – Institute of Pharmacology. Zakusova (25), Gause Institute of New Antibiotics (23), Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (22), Institute of Biomedical Chemistry named after Orekhovich RAMS (19), as part of universities: Lomonosov Moscow State University (94), Moscow Medical Academy. Sechenova (60), Lomonosov Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technologies (31).

 Fig. 18. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of creating new new antibiotics and treatments for socially significant diseases.

The number of publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has grown from 200 to almost 400 works per year in recent years (Fig. 19). The search keywords were "cell", "technology".

 
Fig. 19. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of cellular technologies.

The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in Russian journals, such as Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cytology. Some of the works of Russian researchers carried out in this field are published in such international journals as "Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal", "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America", "FEBS Letters", "Journal of Biological Chemistry", "Journal of Molecular Biology".

 
20. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of cellular technologies published in Russian and international journals.According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 5.8 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 3.19 articles.

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the greatest publication activity in this field was noted at the Institute of Molecular Biology named after V.A.Engelhardt (99 articles), the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms named after K.G.Scriabin (57), the Institute of Plant Physiology named after V.A.Engelhardt (99 articles), the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms named after K.G. Scriabin (57), the Institute of Plant Physiology named after K.A.Timiryazev (51), Institute of Gene Biology (50), Institute of Molecular Genetics (47), Institute of Cytology (43), Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry. Academicians M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov (41).

Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most active research in this area was conducted at the V.N.Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (56 publications), the N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (46), and the Institute of Experimental Medicine (29).

Among higher educational institutions, the most active research in the field of cellular technologies was conducted at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (526 articles).

Despite the fact that cellular technologies have been developing for quite a long period of time, they are still an actively developing field of technologies of living systems. If during 1996-2002 the publication activity of scientists in this field was quite stable and was at the level of 200-250 articles per year (about half of the articles were published in international journals), then since 2002 there has been a significant increase in the number of publications in this field, and precisely due to the increase in the number of publications in international journals (Fig. 20). These technologies are being developed most effectively in institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and higher educational institutions.

The number of Russian publications on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has recently increased by half – from less than 400 to almost 600 works per year (Fig. 21). The search keywords were "bioengineering", "tissue".

 
Fig. 21. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of bioengineering technologies.

The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in Russian journals, such as "Biochemistry", "Biophysics", "Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine", "Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology", "Plant Physiology". However, a significant part of the work of Russian researchers carried out in this field is published in such international journals as "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America", "FEBS Letters", "Journal of Molecular Structure", "Nucleic Acids Research", "Journal of Biological Chemistry", "Protein Engineering".

  
22. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of bioengineering technologies published in Russian and international journals.According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 6.4 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 2.05 articles.

An analysis of the organizations in which researchers are most actively working in this field showed that among the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the greatest publication activity in this field was noted at the V.A.Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (256 publications), the Institute of Molecular Genetics (138), the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov (73), and many other institutions.

Of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the most research in this area was conducted at the V.N.Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (74 articles), the All-Russian Cardiology Research Center (62), the Institute of Experimental Medicine (35), the N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center (31).

Among the research institutes and research centers, the most active research in this direction is conducted at the FSUE State Research Center GosNIIGenetics (132 articles), the Institute of Immunology of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (43), the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (41).

Among higher educational institutions, research in the field of biosynthesis technologies was conducted at the Moscow State University. M.V.Lomonosov (1005 articles), St. Petersburg State University (122), Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (102).

Bioengineering technologies have developed quite successfully over the analyzed period of time, and if in 1996-2002 the increase in the number of publications was mainly due to publications in Russian journals, then in 2002-2008 the increase in the number of publications was already due to an increase in the number of publications in international journals, publications in which in 2008 already prevailed over publications in Russian journals (fig. 22).

Technologies for creating biocompatible materialsTechnologies for creating biocompatible materials are also a new and actively developing direction worldwide.

The number of publications of Russian scientists on this topic included in the SCOPUS database has increased by half in recent years – from one in 1996 to 25 in 2006. However, in the last two years there has been a decline in the publication activity of Russian scientists in this field (Fig. 23). The keywords for the search were "implant", "tissue", "biocompatible"..

 
23. The number of articles by Russian researchers in the field of technologies for creating biocompatible materials.

The works of Russian scientists in this field are mainly published in such international journals as "Biomaterials", "Artificial Organs", "Biosensors and Bioelectronics", "Biomaterials, Artificial Cells and Artificial Organs".

 
Figure 24. The ratio between the number of articles by Russian authors in the field of creating biocompatible materials published in Russian and international journals.

Some of the works of Russian researchers carried out in this field are published in Russian journals, such as "Medical Technology", "Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine", "Surgery", "Archive of Pathology", "Questions of Medical Chemistry".

According to the analysis of the SCOPUS database, the average number of co–authors in 2008 in this field of research in one article was 4.83 people, the average number of papers published by one employee in 2008 in this field was 1 article. In general, about 100 people are actively engaged in technologies for creating biocompatible materials in the Russian Federation.

However, it should be noted that the staff of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, as well as state scientific centers and research institutes, publish only isolated articles on the topic of creating biocompatible materials.

Technologies for the creation of biocompatible materials in Russian science, based on the results of the analysis of publication activity, are in a dual position. On the one hand, there is a trend of growth in the number of publications on the topic throughout the analyzed period, on the other hand, the number of publications on the topic itself is insignificant, despite a significant number of organizations dealing with this topic, and over the past two years there has been a drop in the number of publications.

The priority direction of "Living Systems" and other biological disciplines is the redistribution of rolesFirst of all, it should be noted that both the adoption of the list of critical technologies of the Russian Federation and the adoption of the Federal Target "Research and Development in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia" had a noticeable impact on the development of areas of life sciences and technologies related to living systems.

The number of publications on almost all critical technologies has increased, and for some (bioinformatics, biomedicine, biosensors, genomic technologies) – significantly, and currently accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of Russian publications in the field of biology and medicine.  Despite the decrease in the total number of works in the field of biology and medicine, from 2002 to 2008 the number of works in the field of critical technologies increased by almost a third and in 2008 amounted to a total of about 4,000 works per year. However, it should be noted that publication activity in such critical technologies as biocatalysis technologies, veterinary life support technologies has not changed, and publication activity in the field of biosynthesis technologies has even decreased.

At the same time, it is noteworthy that the increase in the number of publications on critical technologies was achieved by redistributing the total number of publications in the field of biology and medicine towards critical technologies. At the same time, a synchronous drop in the total number of publications on biology as a whole may be a consequence of a reduction in the number of researchers by 2008 and, among other things, indicate the onset of a certain sense of "saturation" by researchers in this field (Fig. 25). At the same time, the growth of publication activity of researchers in the field of critical technologies of living systems is striking. In general, the number of highly efficient researchers working in the field of "living systems" can be estimated approximately at about 10 thousand people.

 
Figure 25. The total number of publications by Russian authors in the life sciences and the number of publications on critical technologies.

Russian biological journals and their impact factorsAnother indicator that allows us to serve about the level of works published by Russian authors is the impact factors of journals.

12 Russian biological journals are deposited in the database of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), the dynamics of changes in their IF is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Impact factors of Russian biological journals

The growth of impact factors is most noticeable in the journals "Molecular Biology", "Biochemistry", "Bioorganic Chemistry" - that is, those journals in which the works of Russian scientists from the leading scientific organizations of the country are published. The total impact factor of the twelve journals presented in Table 1 increased over three years from 4,303 to 6,076.

On the one hand, there is a clear lag in the publication activity of Russian scientists in the field of biology, even from developing countries. If we call a spade a spade, then Russia, in comparison with the developed scientific powers, is moving in the opposite direction. Such a process, however, may reflect general trends in Russian science, first of all, the aging of the staff of researchers and, as a result, a decrease in the proportion of highly qualified researchers.

On the other hand, there is an increase in the share of publications carried out within the framework of projects related to critical technologies in the field of living systems. It can be assumed that the adoption of the Federal Target Program "Research and Development in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia", existing since 2002, as well as a number of programs of the Russian Academy of Sciences ("Fundamental Sciences - Medicine", "Molecular and Cellular Biology") led to this result. Probably, there was a reorientation of some researchers to perform work within these programs. An increase in the impact factors of the leading Russian biological journals also indicates an increase in the quality of work, the results of which are presented in these journals.

An analysis of the publication activity of scientific organizations shows that a pool of research institutes and universities actively working in the field of living systems has been preserved in Russia. This suggests that a certain reserve in the field of living systems has remained in Russia. At the same time, a very important task of the state should be not only the maintenance, but also the development of this reserve.

The next – and more detailed – step in the study should be an analysis of the number of joint publications of domestic scientists working in Russian scientific organizations with their foreign colleagues. This seems logical, since joint publications give an idea of the level of scientific work, and the dynamics of the number of joint articles will allow us to find out about changes in this level. In addition, it is necessary to analyze in detail the parameters of the publication activity of individual leading scientists in their fields (first of all, we are talking about the citation index).