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USING THE ELIBRARY.RU DATABASE TO ASSESS SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF SOCIAL GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH IN RUSSIA

Social geography in Russia, as well as throughout the world, is experiencing strong competition from regional research areas of other social sciences. This is reflected in the reducing share and also absolute number of publications in the field of social geography; in a decrease in the number of dissertation councils and the number of dissertation defenses in specialty ‘Economic, Social, Political and Recreational Geography’; in the elimination of specialized departments and laboratories; in the declining research potential of scientific socio-geographical centers, especially regional ones. The authors attempt to identify the spatial localization of such centers and the effectiveness of the activities of their leading scientists, to typify the regions according to the level of the social geography development, and to evaluate the dynamics of their development. The assessment methodology is based on the estimation of the publication activity of scientists from different organizations and regions with the use of the eLibrary.ru database. We used data (depending on the indicators under consideration) for the period of 2016–2020, for 2021, and as of March 18, 2022. The study revealed a deep and increasing spatial polarization of publication activity. It is proposed to enhance the coverage of existing and potential research results in order to draw attention to the possibilities of social geography for improving strategic and spatial planning. The paper highlights the need to develop network interactions to increase the research potential of the science.