Analysis of the systems for monitoring the scientific and technological development of the BRICS countries: Problems and possible solutions

In the context of intensifying global technological competition, science and technology development has become one of the key factors of national competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy. For the BRICS countries, this sphere is especially important because it combines the tasks of economic modernization, strengthening domestic scientific capacity, and developing national mechanisms of technological advancement. The purpose of the article is to identify common trends and national specificities in the monitoring systems of science and technology development in the BRICS countries through a comparative analysis of roadmaps and indicator architecture. The empirical basis includes official strategic and program documents of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The methodological framework combines comparative analysis, qualitative content analysis of documents, a systems approach. An approach distinguishing resource, output, applied-effect, and strategic-impact indicators was used for cross-country comparison. The study shows that the BRICS countries differ in the function of monitoring within the system of public governance of science and technology development. Russia and China demonstrate predominantly centralized models in which monitoring is embedded in the strategic planning framework. India is characterized by a mission-oriented evaluative model that combines program flexibility, digital monitoring contours, and pronounced feedback mechanisms. Brazil and South Africa are closer to coordination-transformational models focused on linking strategic and program levels. The scientific novelty of the article lies in comparing the BRICS countries not by aggregate statistical indicators, but by the architecture of monitoring as a specific element of public science and technology policy. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using its conclusions to improve national monitoring systems, develop interim assessment procedures and adjust government policy in the scientific and technological field, as well as identify the need for a strategic system of scientific and technological cooperation within the entire BRICS association.