SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION BETWEEN ARMENIAN AND THE EAEU: REALITY AND DEVELOPMENT TRENDS

The aim of this article is to analyze and assess the scientific collaboration between the Republic of Armenia (RA) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member-states.

In the Introduction, the article dwells into the integration processes that started right after the collapse of the Soviet Union with a main emphasis on the EAEU. The situation in the scientific sphere in Armenia is presented briefly, followed by highlighting the role of international scientific collaboration as a way to overcome a crisis in the science field.

The role of the Committee of Sciences of the RA in the development of international collaboration is emphasized. The first steps in the framework of EAEU to activate scientific-technical cooperation are stressed.

The Materials and Methods Section outlines the databases on which the study is based, that are the Web of Science Core Collection (WOS CC) and the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). The timeframe for the data retrieved from the WOS CC is 1991–2016, while for the RSCI — 2005–2016. The types of collaborations, as well as five stages of research — data retrieval from the WOS CC and the RSCI, data cleaning, quantitative analysis of citation, quantitative analysis of co-authored papers of the RA with each EAEU member-state and the distribution of the co-authored papers by the scientific fields — are mentioned.

The Results Section presents the results of the study by the five mentioned stages and the relevant analysis.

The Discussion and Conclusion Section presents the main conclusions of the study. It mainly stresses that Russia is the main scientific partner of Armenia, followed by Belarus. Scientific collaboration of Armenia with Kazakhstan and Kirgizia are on a very low level. Physics was recognized to be the leading field of collaboration. Generally, the article concludes that it is too early to speak about the role of the EAEU in the development of scientific collaboration between the member-states. In order to assure a stable growth of collaboration among the EAEU member-states a huge work should be done.

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