Mobility and Career Opportunities in a Globalized Academic Market: Evidences from Russia

The study examines reseachers’ mobility and migration, including "brain drain" and "brain circulation". The mobility is considered as one of the most important driver of research career on academic and nonacademic labor markets. As an empirical source we used data from the study of Russian doctorate holders (project "Monitoring of the Labor Market for Highly Qualified R&D Personnel", that is Russian part of the international project "Careers of Doctorate Holders" (CDH). The rates of domestic (intrasectoral and intersectoral) mobility of Russian researchers are relatively low: two-thirds of employees have not changed their workplace over the past 10 years. Intersectoral mobility is not the same for different types of organizations: the greatest outflow occurs from the research institutes. Special attention is paid on the international mobility of Russian researchers: 15.8% of all surveyed doctorate holders had experience in studying or working abroad for three months or more. Mobile researchers are mostly men (63.4%) and are from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Mobility rates of Russian doctorate holders are compared with those obtained in the international project "Careers of Doctorate Holders". The results indicate that the main trends inherent in the Russian academic labour market are similar to those in the European and global labour markets. The findings of study indicates that mobile Russian researchers are more demanded in the national labor market, and are also involved in the "synchronous mobility", when the scientist can have multiple affiliations and work simultaneously in several countries. Participation in international mobility significantly increases the publication activity of a scientist.