The Economic Evaluation of Russian Scientific Foundation

In this paper we evaluate the economic research results’ effectiveness of grantees (scientists who have received a grant from the government or from a science foundation to conduct their research) and consider the question what the return on investments of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) in science is. The main objective of this research is to analyze the success of the grant system of the Russian Science Foundation by using bibliometric information and general information from 2014 to 2018 on social and humanitarian sciences. Bibliometric information includes indicators of scientific productivity: the number of published articles in reputable scientific journals, its citation rate and the Hirsch index. Statistical and regression analysis (using OLS and probit models) were used as the methods of this study. The following dependent variables were selected for the least squares method: the number of Scopus/WoS articles, the total number of publications, publications not included in the RSCI, Scopus or WoS. For the probit model: the number of articles Q1, Q1, or Q2 WoS, the number of articles Q1, Q1, or Q2 Scopus. The economic assessment of efficiency is determined by indicators-analogs of capital intensity and capital return. The following control variables were selected: region, field of science, funding period and competition, as well as the characteristics of the principal investigators (Hirsh-index and citation). The main conclusions of the study: it is impossible to say that the grant funding system of the RSF encourages publications in journals with quartile Q1, Q1 or Q2 in WoS or Q1 Scopus; there are no significant differences between regions; there is a positive trend in the probability of publishing articles in journals Q1 or Q2 Scopus; the financial indicators of fund intensity and fund return improve. The results of the study will be useful for the Russian Science Foundation, for which the quality of funded projects is very important. This paper is also relevant for all studies in the fields of social and humanitarian sciences to see the assessment of the effectiveness of the fund itself and the return on investment in science.