According to the international scientometric database Web of Science in 2014 11 papers written by 19 staff members, doctoral students and post-graduate students of the Irkutsk State University, were published in the most highly cited scientific journals.

Publications by ISU scientists cover the following scientific branches: physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and archeology. All of them are published in scientific journals included in the first citation quartile.

According to the ISU Vice rector for Research and International Activity Professor Alexander Schmidt publication of results of scientific research in a journal included in the first citation quartile in their thematic category is, of course, a major scientific achievement.

Alexander Schmidt:

- In recent years issues related to the presence of national science at the international level have become especially vital. It is important and necessary to increase the level of participation of Russian science in the world, publish research papers in leading international journals. ISU works in this direction, there is a significant shift in the number and quality of publications. In 2014 our university, the only one of the Irkutsk universities, has got a licensed access to the databases of international citation indexes Web of Science and Scopus. This allows you to quickly get the necessary scientific and technical information on the topic of interest to the fullest extent, which, of course, affects the level of research and quality of scientific papers.

Publications in international journals are essential:

• to improve academic qualification of scientists;

• to improve their scientific status in the scientific community, first  in Russia, and then (if successful) abroad;

• to extend fields of scientific activity due to familiarity with foreign colleagues, establish informal interaction that may result in international projects, grants, joint publications, etc.