Pillar Universities in Russia: The Rise of "the Second Wave"

TL;DR

This paper investigates the development of 'pillar' universities in Russia, focusing on their growth potential and initial progress using bibliometric analysis, to identify institutions deserving support for future prominence.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of 'pillar' universities in Russia and evaluates their early progress through bibliometric methods, highlighting their potential for future leadership.

Findings

Encouraging initial progress of 'pillar' universities

Bibliometric analysis supports their development potential

Identifies universities deserving additional support

Abstract

The problem of identifying the leading universities in a country is rather easy to solve, one may focus, for example, on highly cited papers or other indicators of excellence. Sometimes it is more challenging to find the universities of "the second wave" which deserve to receive additional support because it may help them to become the most prominent ones, "the first". We study progress of the initial phase of such universities, named "pillar" in Russian education system. The first results, measured by 'short-distance bibliometrics', seem to be encouraging.