VISIBILITY AND TRANSFORMATION OF MOLDOVAN SCHOLARLY OUTPUT (2008–2024): A COMPARATIVE BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52326/jss.utm.2026.9(1).08Keywords:
research visibility, bibliometrics, Republic of Moldova, Web of Science, Scopus, National Bibliometric InstrumentAbstract
This comparative bibliometric study examines the visibility of scientific publications by authors from the Republic of Moldova between 2008 and 2024. Utilising three complementary data sources – Web of Science, Scopus, and the National Bibliometric Instrument – the analysis assesses temporal trends, document types, linguistic and disciplinary distributions, and the effects of accreditation and indexing policies on publication patterns. The results reveal a dual model of visibility: Web of Science and Scopus capture an internationalised segment dominated by English-language journal articles in the exact sciences and engineering, while the National Bibliometric Instrument reflects an exhaustive national corpus with a prominent role for conference proceedings, publications in Romanian and Russian, and strong representation of social sciences and humanities. Regulatory reforms and accreditation processes since 2013-2016 have contributed to editorial professionalisation and a typological shift in the National Bibliometric Instrument towards conference materials. The study highlights the limitations of single-source evaluations and argues for the integrated use of international and national bibliometric infrastructures to achieve a balanced assessment of research performance. Implications for policy, editorial practices, and future research, including cohort citation analyses and the role of persistent identifiers, are discussed.
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