The use of scientometric indicators in evaluation of scientific activity

At present the issue concerning the evaluation of scientific activity using scientometric indicators has become especially urgent, since these indicators, together with expert opinions, are now used at all stages of science management. The article considers several debating points that have recently appeared in regard to the wide use of different scientometric indicators for evaluating scientific activity. The author presents an overview of the main scientometric indicators that take into account the number of publications and number of citations, both separately and together. The author makes an attempt to give a comparative assessment of scientometric indicators of the institutions included in the Economics Section of the Social Sciences Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, according to the Russian Science Citation Index. On the basis of the analysis the author specifies the ways to improve scientometric indicators and substantiates the necessity of applying expert technologies in the evaluation of scientific activity's efficiency.