The formation of the water management scientific field as reflected in scientific periodicals (18th — 21st centuries)

The article traces the evolution of water management scientific periodicals (from the 18th to the 21st centuries) as a reflection of the field’s development. Based on a retrospective analysis of journals and serial publications (from the Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum of 1726 to contemporary 21st-century journals), four thematic clusters are identified: hydrological, engineering, agricultural (land reclamation), and ecological. Each cluster evolved within its own institutional tradition (the Academy of Sciences / Roshydromet, the Ministry of Railways / Ministry of Agriculture, and later, in the Soviet period, sectoral people's commissariats and ministries). It is shown that already in pre-revolutionary periodicals these clusters displayed communicative independence, while the Soviet system of sectoral research institutes, their journals (Hydrotechnical Construction, Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering, Land Reclamation and Water Management, Meteorology and Hydrology, Water Economy of Russia: Problems, Technologies, Management) ultimately consolidated the closure of scientific communications within the field (and within each cluster). Post-Soviet “quasi-market autarky” preserved the autarkic structure of the water management sector. Consequently, it is concluded that the absence of a separate Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) specialization for water management and the existence of four thematic areas (according to the Nomenclature of VAK Scientific Specializations) are markers of historically entrenched fragmentation recorded in the system of scientific journals. Overcoming this fragmentation requires a purposeful policy aimed at building inter-cluster communication bridges, including support for interdisciplinary journals and joint research projects.