Russian or German?

[nickolay1]

I find myself doubting this and would like to see some kind of evidence for the assertion, given the high level of activity in German academia and research... but in any case it's my understanding that German technical jargon is effectively a second language anyway

I did a search on http://www.springer.com, one of the largest publishers of scientific journals, for "russian" and "german." The former resulted in nearly 3x the quantity of results for scientific journals. On the same site, there's also this page, which notes that over 200 are available. This only includes translated journals; the total quantity is probably much higher. A study from 1966 found that the relative rate of citations of Russian compared to German was sharply increasing. Since then, science in the former Soviet Union has come a long way, so this trend probably did not reverse.

That's all I could find on short notice. Actual statistics of publications are to be found in their respective languages, thus a pain in the ass to search.

EDIT: I looked up the largest libraries of Russia and Germany. The German library is dedicated to German language publications, and has 24.1 million items, while the Russian library has 42 million, in many languages. I found a Russian source that stated that the quantity of foreign publications was 12 million; therefore the number of Russian publications it holds is roughly 30 million.

[Pablo Sanchez]

I did a search on http://www.springer.com, one of the largest publishers of scientific journals, for "russian" and "german." The former resulted in nearly 3x the quantity of results for scientific journals.

This is a bizarre and not very effective proof. All it proves is that one specific company offers more different journals, and given that Springer apparently has a full program specializing in Russian journals, this may be one of their trademarks. It says absolutely nothing about the status of the journals, or the standing of the articles in them. In fact my guess would be that this merely represents the parochialism of Russian sciences, emerging as they did from Cold War academic isolation, and therefore requiring a special "Russian (nee Soviet) Journal of XXX" for every discipline.

A search by language using this engine will return 186 results for German and 21 for Russian. I'm not arguing that these numbers represent the actual extent of journals published in those languages, I'm just pointing out how this generally is not an effective means of ascertaining the prevalence of these languages in the sciences.

A study from 1966 found that the relative rate of citations of Russian compared to German was sharply increasing. Since then, science in the former Soviet Union has come a long way, so this trend probably did not reverse.

You're assuming that a trend observed in 1966 has not changed, and you're assuming that Russian sciences have not deteriorated as a result of the Soviet Union's collapse? I'm sorry, but neither of those assumptions is tenable.

EDIT: I looked up the largest libraries of Russia and Germany. The German library is dedicated to German language publications, and has 24.1 million items, while the Russian library has 42 million, in many languages. I found a Russian source that stated that the quantity of foreign publications was 12 million; therefore the number of Russian publications it holds is roughly 30 million.

I don't see what this demonstrates. The largest Russian library has about 20% more Russian language items than the German library has German items? So?

[nickolay1]

This is a bizarre and not very effective proof. All it proves is that one specific company offers more different journals, and given that Springer apparently has a full program specializing in Russian journals, this may be one of their trademarks. It says absolutely nothing about the status of the journals, or the standing of the articles in them. In fact my guess would be that this merely represents the parochialism of Russian sciences, emerging as they did from Cold War academic isolation, and therefore requiring a special "Russian (nee Soviet) Journal of XXX" for every discipline.

Those two hundred are apparently of high enough status to merit full translation.

A search by language using this engine will return 186 results for German and 21 for Russian. I'm not arguing that these numbers represent the actual extent of journals published in those languages, I'm just pointing out how this generally is not an effective means of ascertaining the prevalence of these languages in the sciences.

That website does not have a representative selection of Russian publications. The results consisted of titles like "Red Librarian," "Enlightenment of Siberia," "Red Army Club" and "New World of Art," with most consisting of just a few articles from decades ago. Not a single periodical of natural science, engineering, or mathematics. The German results did have some material on actual science, but mostly from 80 years ago. This search engine sucks ass.

You're assuming that a trend observed in 1966 has not changed, and you're assuming that Russian sciences have not deteriorated as a result of the Soviet Union's collapse? I'm sorry, but neither of those assumptions is tenable.

The Soviet union was still recovering from the WW2 in the 60s. The cold war and associated spending continued for over 20 years subsequent to that, so it's not unreasonable to assume that the volume of its research was rising. As for the collapse, universities and other research institutions in the CIS remained virtually intact. Funding may have been a problem for a time after, but this is no longer the case.

I don't see what this demonstrates. The largest Russian library has about 20% more Russian language items than the German library has German items? So?

Yes. It's a fairly conclusive demonstration that more has been published in the Russian language.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Those two hundred are apparently of high enough status to merit full translation.

By a company which has a flagship program devoted specifically to translating Russian journals and which prominently declares that it is "the market leader" in this field. Doesn't this maybe suggest that Springer is uniquely interested in Russian translation and therefore the numbers you gave are useless?

In fact, I did a little more digging and it seems that you are correct in that Russian would open up more scientific literature--not because Russians actually publish more, but because the tendency of German scientists (who commonly have facility with English) has been to publish in the lingua franca so as to allow more academics access and to participate in the international field.
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another abstract

The Soviet union was still recovering from the WW2 in the 60s. The cold war and associated spending continued for over 20 years subsequent to that, so it's not unreasonable to assume that the volume of its research was rising.

It's not unreasonable to assume that, no. It's also not unreasonable to assume that it fell, as the USSR diverted a greater and greater proportion of GDP to defense in the 70s and 80s. Either proposition is equally likely.

As for the collapse, universities and other research institutions in the CIS remained virtually intact. Funding may have been a problem for a time after, but this is no longer the case.

In fact post-Soviet Russia was the poster child for brain drain. BBC article from 2001. I'm also going to repeat that it is foolish to take a trend observed in 1966 and assume it that it will hold true over the course of 42 years. If we did this with the above article we could easily assume that there are no longer any scientists left in Russia, because of the rate of drainage cited.

Yes. It's a fairly conclusive demonstration that more has been published in the Russian language.

More of what? Children's books? Soviet-era hygeine pamphlets? The number is perfectly meaningless because there is no context for it.

[Thanas]

Those two hundred are apparently of high enough status to merit full translation.

By a company which has a flagship program devoted specifically to translating Russian journals and which prominently declares that it is "the market leader" in this field. Doesn't this maybe suggest that Springer is uniquely interested in Russian translation and therefore the numbers you gave are useless?

In fact, I did a little more digging and it seems that you are correct in that Russian would open up more scientific literature--not because Russians actually publish more, but because the tendency of German scientists (who commonly have facility with English) has been to publish in the lingua franca so as to allow more academics access and to participate in the international field.
abstract
another abstract

I can personally attest that this is true - almost every medical article is published in english as well and almost every important dissertation I know of in recent years in history has or will be published in english.

Furthermore, in my own field of history, one has to know german. Not because german history is that important, but because the biggest encyclopedias in ancient history are only written in german.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Furthermore, in my own field of history, one has to know german. Not because german history is that important, but because the biggest encyclopedias in ancient history are only written in german.

Well, that's because Germans more or less invented the modern historical enterprise and works in the humanities and liberal arts usually have more longevity that technical literature.