Effects of doctoral publication requirements on the research output of Ukrainian academics in Scopus

This article aims to explore the effects of doctoral publication requirements on the research output of Ukrainian academics in Scopus in terms of quantity and impact. Research output in Scopus, elaborated by Ukrainian academics in economics, medicine and physics who were awarded a doctoral degree in three time periods (before September 2013, after September 2013 and after September 2020) marked by changes in doctoral publication requirements was chosen for analysis. The study findings highlight that the publication requirements resulted in an increase in the share of doctorate holders with publications in Scopus. However, first, the share of PhD holders in economics and medicine who have publications in Scopus remains rather small. In these disciplines, 9.4% and 18.1%, of PhD holders and 44.6% and 47% of DS holders who were awarded a doctoral degree in 2020, have publications in Scopus. This can be attributed to the low standards applicable to doctoral theses in economics and medicine. Second, the median journal CiteScore quartile remained unchanged in all groups except for DS holders in physics. In their case, it rose from 3 to 2. Thus, in general, changes in doctoral publication requirements did not result in doctoral holders publishing in more impactful journals.