Electronic social science journals: still alive?

Abstract

The article encompasses the role and the meaning of the electronic social science journals in Russian periodical publications. To consider thee scientometric indicators of the electronic science publications the author uses the database of the Scientific electronic library eLibrary.ru. The key selection criterion is having the full-text open source articles, their timely updates according to the declared periodicity and the positioning of the journal as an electronic issue. A total of six electronic social science journals were selected; a comparative analysis of their scientometric features was carried out. According to the author`s conclusions based on the analysis, all electronic social science periodicals play an important role in Russian scientific periodicals (both for authors, and for readers). At the same time, most of them are developing towards increasing the bibliometric parameters. However, the interpretation of the data acquired reveals a serious problem which is low intensity scientific discussions that can be seen through law quotation of the articles of other authors.