Influence of competitive financing on the scientific results of Russian researchers: Bibliometric analysis on the basis of web of science database for 2008

The use of a new option of the Web of Science (WOS) database is discussed, which provides the ability to collect the bibliometric statistics of funding agencies. The method of searching using this option is described in detail, as well as problems of identification of the same fund due to numerous English-language versions of its name spelling. The analysis of 26500 domestic articles was performed for 2008 using the Research Analysis option. About 23.4% (6830) of the articles were financed by different funds; about 4600 articles were published by grant holders of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The desire of Russian researchers to obtain additional financing sources and a wide network of international scientific connections is proved by their participation in numerous foreign organizations (funds, universities, and ministries) in 72 countries during the performance of research.