On the basis of National Science Indicators for 1998-2002 the comparative statistics of research activity of 25 leading countries is given. The Russian indicators (number of publications and citation figures) in the fields of Economics, Sociology, History and Philosope are compared to the World indicators. Sixty five journals were chosen for more detailed analysis. They were drawn from three fields of knowledge: History (17 journals), History of Social Science (16 journals) and History & Philosophy of Science (33 journals). Some journals are common to 2 or more fields, thus History and History of Social Science share some journals with the field of Sociology, History of Social Science have common journals with ten fields (esp. Business, Economics). Journals in philosophy and historical sciences were analyzed along the lines, described in Scientometrics vol.35, No2 (1996), p.283-290. (Marshakova-Shaikevich, 1996). The ideas was to compare the traditional impact factor (Ip) of a journal, as indicated in JCR DB, with the average impact factor of the corresponding field of knowledge (Ig). The technique of calculation of the standard impact factor for a field (Ig) is an inherent part of a method, which allows a cross-field evaluation of scientific journals. For each field 5 journals with the highest Ip values were selected. If the total number of papers in those journals (for the two preceding years) was less than 500 for science and 300 for social sciences, the list was extended until the threshold of 500 (or 300) was reached. The ratio of the total number of current year citations (in ISI source journals) of articles in the list journals (for two preceding years) to the total number of source items in the list journals (in the same two years) represents the group standard impact factor of the field, i.e., Ig= R/S. Standard impact factors Ig is showed in table 3. To evaluate a particular journal we should always compare the traditional impact factor Ip with the standard impact factor of the corresponding field Ig. The most obvious and simple indicator would be the ratio of the two measures: K= (Ip/Ig)x100% - relative (or standard) impact factor of journal. If a journal belongs to two or more fields the arithmetic mean of the two or more Ig's may be used. The relation of traditional impact factor (Ip) and relative factor (K) may be illustrated by 10 journals: Ip 2003 K 1994-98 K 2003 American Historical Review 0.833 163.8 137.97 Social Studies of Science 1.069 120.7 132.96 Biology & Philosophy 0.691 77.3 85.94 Technology & Culture 0.596 29.4 74.13 ISIS 0.576 97.6 71.64 Economic History Review 0.722 40.8 32.89 Past & Present 0.302 64.3 47.19 History of Psychiatry 0.531 17.8 16.13 Configurations 0.310 42.5 38.56 Journal of Historical Geography 0.554 74.9 35.47 In conclusion it should be stressed that in 1994-1998 American Historical Review and Social Studies of Science occupied 5th and 33rd place in the list of 1810 journals of DBs SSCI ranked by K.
