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Release Date 27.02.2026

 ECONOMIC THEORY

 

 

 

Rubinshtein Alexander

Doctor of Philosophy, Head of the Theoretical Economics Research Division

Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0455-3879

 

Chukovskaya Catherine

Ph.D., Director

The Scientific and Educational Centre for Intellectual Property and Digital Economy (Moscow), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2715-761X

 

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE: PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE

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The article presents an analysis of the current situation 12 years after the transfer in 2013 of academic institutions first to the Federal Agency for Scientific Organisations (FANO) and then to the

Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which led to the Russian Academy of Sciences effectively losing its status as a self-governing civil society organization, which affected the authority of the RAS. The focus is on researching current problems in the activities of the RAS's economic institutions and related copyright issues. In the context of seeking answers to questions related to scientific activity and the dissemination of knowledge, the opinion of professional economists is presented, obtained because of an online sociological survey conducted because of the NEA information system. An important feature of the dissemination of knowledge is conditioned by issues of intellectual property and copyright. The emergence of many pseudo-works and objects with a low level of creativity also affects the market for the dissemination of knowledge. In the context of a journal monopoly established for scientometric purposes, the models of relations between scientists and publishers today are distorted compared to fundamental legal approaches that traditionally give authors power over the results of their work, the right to inviolability and the right to remuneration. The use of new technologies in scientific activity carries both advantages and risks. Neural networks greatly simplify some routine operations, thus being an effective tool for intellectual work at certain stages of research. On the other hand, there is a possibility that the results of human reasoning will be replaced by conclusions generated by an algorithm based on the principles of word frequency and not free from flaws. From the point of view of copyright, the issues of ‘input’ and ‘output’ remain unresolved: to what extent is the use of protected works for machine learning legal, and who should own the rights to the generated content?

 

Keywords: sociological research, knowledge dissemination, intellectual property, copyright, neural networks, journal ranking, rating

JEL: A14, B23, C43

UDC: 001, 001.3, 004, 009

DOI: 10.52342/2587-7666VTE_2026_1_7_21

 

©  A. Rubinshtein, C. Chukovskaya, 2026

© Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences «Issues of Theoretical Economics», 2026

 

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Manuscript submission date: 22.12.2025

Manuscript acceptance date: 15.01.2026

 

For citation:

Rubinstein A.Ya., Chukovskaya E.E. Scientific activityes in the digital age: production and dissemination of knowledge // Voprosy teoreticheskoy ekonomiki. 2026. No. 1. Pp.7-21. DOI: 10.52342/2587-7666VTE_2026_1_7_21