The “masterpieces of scientific creativity”: An analysis of highly cited papers by Russian scientists

Highly cited scientific papers by Russian authors are studied. A definition of highly cited papers based on the interpretation provided by the Essential Science Indicators database is presented; the number of highly cited Russian papers is analyzed against the background of global indices and the disciplinary distribution of these papers is explored. It is shown that in all scientific areas the share of Russian papers that become highly cited is below world average. The impact of coauthorships with foreign scientists on the creation of highly cited papers is investigated. It is concluded that international collaboration has a key role in the related process.