Trends in the development of scientific communication and questions are formulated, the answers to which should determine the image of the future of scientific communication in Russia. An overview of government decisions and projects in recent years related to the development of scientific information is offered. Among them are the President’s instructions, the draft law «On science and scientific policy», the creation of the National electronic library and the Single Russian electronic knowledge space and the National encyclopedia portal. The concepts of digital science development developed in the Ministry of education and science are analyzed in detail. It is claimed that their provisions do not correspond to the real state of Affairs in Russian scientific information systems. Proposing an action plan aimed at creating a Single digital space of scientific knowledge as the successor to GSNTI or the national system of scientific information as a separate fragment, Single Russian electronic knowledge spaces. The principles that can be used as the basis for a Single digital space of scientific knowledge are formulated.

In the period 2014–2020 with the support of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, an interesting project was carried out to support Russian scientific journals in their implementation of their development programs. This article describes the main stages of the project and the results achieved by the project participant. The data on the project participants in various aspects (goals, tasks, quotas on topics) are given. The main objectives of the project were: increasing the number of Russian journals in the WoS and Scopus and improving their bibliometric indicators. The article provides an analysis of changes in the bibliometric indicators of project participants, and shows that on average their indicators improved and many project participants were either included in the WoS and Scopus or submitted applications for inclusion and are awaiting expert decision.

This article is the first in a series of articles representing the development forecast of Russian scientific journals. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of many bibliometric indicators of Russian journals presented in various databases on the Web of Science platform, a forecast is made for the development of journals by field of science using the OECD classifier. Proposals are made on the necessary measures to increase the bibliometric indicators of Russian journals in the natural sciences, forecast of increasing the number of Russian journals in Social Sciences and Humanities in the Web of Science Core Collection is presented.

This article is the second in a series of articles representing the development forecast of Russian scientific journals. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of many bibliometric indicators of Russian journals presented in the Scopus citation index, a forecast is made for the development of journals by field of science using the OECD classifier. A forecast is made based on the data presented in the first article of this series, combined with the results of the analysis of Russian journals in the Scopus database, a list of journals that can soon replenish the collections of Russian journals in international citation indexes is presented.

An article in a scientific journal is the key element of modern scholarly communication system, in which scientific journals act as conductors of national science and researchers to the international level. Integration of Russian scientific journals into the global knowledge system and improving their competitiveness are necessary conditions for improving the competitiveness of Russian science itself.

Today, we see a low quality of Russian scientific periodicals with an excessive number of journals. The highly competitive environment and the total use of bibliometric approaches in the research and assessment of science born unfair race for indicators, developing imitation science.

The study aims to analyze, determine and propose solutions of topical issues of Russian scientific journals. The article is a case study of the oldest monthly scientific and production journal “Occupational Safety in Industry”. The transformation of the work of the editorial board is considered within the 2016–2019 period. We analyze the history of formation, development and the common problems of restructuring the activities of the editorial boards that have occurred in recent years.

It is shown that the formalization of scientometric indicators and their impact on funding cause a sharp increase in the number of authors with multiple affiliations. In general, the use of bibliometrics in Russia has generated a number of systemic risks that threaten the development of national science.

The study formulates the tasks and nearest prospects for the development of scientific journals as the basis for a changing scholarly communication system. It is necessary to develop the qualitative scientometrics with new scientometric indices and qualitative author-evaluating indicators (with more precise scientometrics, new tools will appear, including those for identifying dishonest scientists).

To improve the evaluation system of Russian scientific journals, we propose: improving the generally accepted scientometric methods taking into account Russian specifics and introducing a system for assessing and monitoring the quality of Russian scientific journals, combining the use of bibliometric information and independent expert evaluation. The creation of high-quality scientometrics is possible with the use of artificial intelligence systems.

The proposed steps will build a self-regulatory ecosystem on the Russian space of scholarly communication with well-functioning high-quality expertise, which will determine the future of scientific journals.