Pleiades Publishing and RASA-America signed a cooperation agreement
Earlier this year, Pleiades Publishing and Russian American Science Association (RASA-America) signed a cooperation agreement to disseminate among the international scientific community articles by Russian-speaking authors published within the Russian Library of Science program. The parties agreed to establish a Joint Editorial Council, which will invite representatives of the program’s journals and the publisher, as well as members of the association. The council’s objectives will include the discussion and identification of cutting-edge research areas and promising scientific trends requiring instant reflection in the program; assistance in attracting specialists from among the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora or foreign scientists to work with the journals (as reviewers, science editors, and members of the editorial boards); promotion of the journals among the global scientific community (including the use of state-of-the-art publishing technologies, Open Access, SharedIt, etc.); and popularization of journals at scientific conferences, seminars, and other forms of scientific activity in which the association members participate.
The agreement was preceded by a detailed discussion at the RASA-America conference held in Washington, DC, on November 2–4, 2018, on the possibility of supporting and developing Russian scientific journals to improve the Russian research environment. Alexander Shustorovich, president of Pleiades Publishing, and Nikolai Avanesov, a Pleiades consultant, took part in the conference.In Russia, Pleiades Publishing is well known as the largest publisher of translated Russian scientific journals; its Russian Library of Science program, which began in the early 1990s, includes about 90% of all translated Russian scientific publications (181 full journals, more 60 journals in part, and 12 periodicals from former Soviet republics). RASA-America unites over 300 Russian-speaking scientists who work in the United States and other countries of the Americas.
In an interview with TrV-Science, RASA President Alexander Kabanov said: “Russia has preserved its scientific journals, which are translated and included in electronic access databases on a parwith the world’s best publications, primarily through the SpringerLink system…. Theveryfactthattranslated(infact, international) Russian journals exist in this collection is of tremendous value and an important factor in maintaining the Russian scientific ecosystem…. Thanks to international Russian scientific journals, scientists can publish their papers and make them accessible to the global scientific community on a parwith the world’s best publications…. In addition to promoting publications in prestigious high-impact international journals, we should improve the quality of peer-review, adopt the practices of the best translated scientific journals, and thereby aid Russian scientists in entering the global scientific area…. the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora can help Russian scientists in this.” (read here in Russian).
In turn, Alexander Shustorovich noted that “Russian Library of Science was initially formed as an international program aimed at maximum visibility of Russian science in the international community. Since 2006, 89 journals that previously had no English-language versions have been launched on the international market within this program. In addition, it is important that we consistently try to strengthen the international makeup and level of the journals as a major condition for their preservation and promotion. And, of course, the active participation of Russian compatriots working abroad and possessing substantial scientific potential, in addition to our publication experience in preparing our journals at all levels, is very important for this process. Our agreement with RASA-America is aimed primarily at realizing this objective.”
The Joint Editorial Council and the publisher’s corresponding entities within the Joint Editorial Board will be formed in the very near future.