The Russian war of aggression also has an impact on research in the largest country on earth.

The German Research Foundation and the European Space Agency have broken off all institutional cooperation with Russia, many double degree courses have been canceled and the EU research framework program "Horizon Europe" has been suspended.

The analysis company Clarivate, which calculates the impact factor for scientific publications, left Russia.

The major publisher Elsevier stopped selling its products.

Planned events such as the International Mathematicians Congress 2022 have been canceled - to name just a few examples.

Russia's efforts to compete internationally in research will suffer irreparable damage.

In 2011 and 2012, the country introduced new indicators for evaluating the scientific performance of scientists and universities.

These indicators also included publications in international journals indexed in international citation databases such as Scopus and Web of Science.

Such initiatives had greatly enhanced Russia's integration into international science.

However, the success has been accompanied by questionable research practices such as the founding of fake journals and breaches of academic ethics.

Although there is no ban on publishing in international journals, a commission is now creating a white list of Russian journals in which the results of research funded by funding organizations should be published.

The publications in such journals are also used to evaluate the scientific performance of educational and scientific institutions.

However, the number of high-quality Russian journals is not enough to divert the entire publication flow, which means that the quality level of publications with insufficient peer review falls.

In addition, the Russian Rectors' Association issued a statement in support of the invasion of Ukraine.

This could threaten scientists with a boycott by international journals.

The Journal of Molecular Structure already does not publish articles by authors affiliated with Russian institutions, and the Polish Academy of Sciences recommended not publishing articles with Russian co-authors in journals appearing under its logo.

A number of international publishers, as well as the Committee on Publication Ethics, have recommended that manuscripts should not be discriminated against on the basis of the author's nationality.

Universities are also hit by rising prices

Nevertheless, Russian science will face a drop in international publications.

According to the Web of Science, in 2021 nearly 7.8 percent of Russian publications were written in collaboration with scientists associated with the United States, and another 7.3 percent arose from a connection with Germany.

Many Russian universities will not be able to continue these projects on their own, especially as they too are affected by the disruption in supply chains and increased prices.

Direct sanctions were also imposed on individual universities.

Due to travel restrictions, Russian scientists have only limited opportunities to present their research results at conferences.

The government, on the other hand, has high hopes for self-sufficient science.

It is hoped that the pressure from sanctions will be neutralized, that import substitutions will develop and that technological independence will develop.

Given the circumstances, science will hardly be able to meet these expectations.

On April 25, President Putin declared the years 2022-2031 to be the "Decade of Science and Technology."

Amazingly, the Coordinating Committee consists mostly of civil servants.

Only four of 33 members represent scientific and educational institutions.

The aim of the decade is to attract young people to science.

This also seems sorely needed

as more scientists leave the country.

They find refuge in universities that have special programs in place.

If the United States lifts visa restrictions for Russians with master's or doctoral degrees in technology, engineering, and mathematics, another wave of emigration is imminent.

Russian scientists and science journalists were the first to sign a collective anti-war letter that garnered 8,000 supporters.

Anyone who now makes statements about the war, including scientifically, can be prosecuted.

Many scientists who have not yet fled are in internal emigration.

The situation of Russian science before the war is irretrievably lost.

The author is a research associate at the Institute for East European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.

Translated from the English by Jochen Zenthöfer.