Scientific Personnel of Russia: Trends, Problems, Prospects

Abstract

 One of the main objectives of the state scientific and technological policy is to make the Russian Federation one of the leading countries in the world in terms of research and development. The study conducted by the authors has revealed a number of problems that are fundamentally contrary to the national priorities in this sphere. For a number of years, the following problems have been recorded in the country: reduction of the absolute number of scientists, decline in the indicators of postgraduate studies as the main source of renewal of scientific personnel, insufficient funding of remuneration to maintain the prestige of scientists, low indicators of researchers’ performance. The key to solving these problems may be to shift the focus from the policy of increasing the number of scientists to increasing their efficiency and effectiveness. For this purpose, it is proposed to revise the criteria for assessing the achievements of Russian science at the level of strategic program documents and to change the approaches to the assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of scientific activity in order to attract and retain the most productive employees.