Analyzing global publication activity in the field of “Bioeconomy”

The raw material export economic model is not able to meet the needs of the society and state. In this regard, the authorities are increasingly paying attention to upgrading economy and transferring it to the sustainable development model. Bioeconomics that integrates economic and biological knowledge can play an important role in this process. The article reveals historical dynamics of the formation of this discipline, significance of biotechnology in the transition to a new technological order, and provides an overview of publication activity of various countries with regard to the concept “bioeconomics”. The analysis includes data of the world rating databases Web of Science and Scopus. Several criteria are selected for consideration: year, country, research direction and publications number. In general, these databases are similar: the number of publications mentioning the concept “bioeconomics” is small (1,029 and 1,188 in the Web of Science and Scopus, respectively), indicating the process of discipline formation. The article discloses 2 conditional stages of bioeconomics development (before and after 2010) with differences in publication activity and countries’ contribution to research on this subject. It proves that in the first publications the term “bioeconomics” had a meaning different from the modern one. The analysis helps identify leaders in this area: the USA, Germany, the UK and the Nordic countries. Russia is outside the top twenty. However, given the authorities’ capacities and interest, Russia, as well as some of its regions, is able to come closer to solving a number of environmental, economic and social problems of the present time with the help of bioeconomics.