Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has endorsed the Innovative Russia 2020 plan to increase the country’s research investment. The Russian government intends to spend RUB 1.1 trillion ($35.9 billion) annually on research over the next ten years. The plan should boost Russian science spending to 2.5% of GDP. The plan also aims to increase Russia’s share of scientific papers published in global scientific journals from its current 2.48%. Between 2004 and 2010, the citation rate of Russian scientific papers was 2.4 per paper. A major component of the plan will be a shift in the allocation of research money. A scientific committee of national and international scientists will likely conduct audits of Russian universities and scientific institutes, which could lead to funding increases of 30% beginning in 2014 for the most highly rated organizations. The audits could also result in the closure of as many as 15% of institutes and 20% of departments and schools by 2014.

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry