The article analyzes the problems of information-analytical work and changes that have occurred to some of the former abstract journals of social focus, which are published in the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (drawing upon the example of such series as «Ser. 11. Sociology», «Ser. 4. State and Law», «Ser. 9. Oriental and African Studies»). The article highlights the fact that the transformation of the principles of selecting and organizing materials in these journals led to the formation of specialized thematic sections in each of the issues. Usually thematic issues open with an introductory article, which attempts not only to identify a particular topic, but to state the problem being studied within the framework of a broad interdisciplinary approach involving developments in related social disciplines. The thematic sections analyze various aspects of current problems of our age, which determine sociopolitical and economic developments of most countries in the world. The articles emphasizes that analytical journals occupy an important place in academic and information activities, performing navigational and educational functions and helping scholars navigate scientific literature in Russian and foreign languages. The most common genres are deeply–based articles and reviews of current academic literature on social topics, reviews, and structural abstracts. Publications presented in the journals are aimed at a multidimensional and comprehensive consideration of the object and subject of study. It is the authors' opinion that these works give readers the opportunity to assess the state of domestic and foreign social research on a particular topic, provide them with useful information about social processes, trends and phenomena taking place in the world, and also contribute to more thorough interdisciplinary cooperation of social scientists.
scientific information; scientific and informational activities; informationanalytical journal; abstract journal; Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INION RAN).