New features for working with scientific literature are now available on PsyJournals.ru, the portal of psychological publications. OpenAlex data, including citation information and research topics, have been integrated into article pages. These data help users explore connections between publications, broaden their search for sources, and gain insight into the international research context. The information can be found in the “General Information” section of article pages where it is available.
OpenAlex is an open international catalog of scientific research. It brings together information about publications and the connections between them. Users can search for publications free of charge, filter results by year and other criteria, track citations, and explore research on related topics.
The “OpenAlex Citations” section shows how many publications indexed in the database cite a particular article. Clicking the linked citation count opens a list of citing publications. This allows users to continue their search from a source they have already found, explore studies that have cited it, and examine the context in which the publication has been used.
The “OpenAlex Topics” section displays the research areas to which the system has automatically assigned an article. Up to three topics may be listed for a single publication. These complement the author's keywords and the journal's subject classification with an international thematic classification. Topic names are displayed in Russian on the portal and link to the corresponding OpenAlex pages, where users can read descriptions of the research areas and continue searching for literature. Let us consider two examples:
- The article “School Well-Being of Primary School Students: Motivational and Educational Predictors” has 33 citations. Its topics include “Developmental and Educational Psychology” and “Educational Methods and Teacher Development”. These connections can help broaden a literature search when preparing a review of school well-being, extending it to educational environments, teaching practices, and teacher training.
- The article “A New Approach to Computerized Adaptive Testing” has 20 citations. It has been assigned the topics “Advanced Data Processing Methods” and “Advanced Statistical Modeling Methods”. These links offer an additional avenue for researchers developing diagnostic instruments or studying computational methods in psychology.
Citation counts are based on the data displayed on PsyJournals.ru when checked on November 7, 2026, and may change over time.
Citation metrics and research topics help users navigate the literature, but they require careful interpretation. Citation counts depend on the database's coverage and the time elapsed since publication; they do not, in themselves, determine the quality of a study. Automatically assigned topics may also be broader than the specific content of an article. When selecting sources, it is important to consult abstracts and full texts.
Exploring the thematic connections of individual articles often leads to a further question: how is a research field structured, and how does it develop over time? For research on digital childhood, the portal already offers “Impulse: Trends in Digital Childhood Research”. Developed at MSUPE, the system uses OpenAlex data and presents the results of an analysis of publications from 2020 to 2025 through an interactive map, a topic catalog, and indicators of changes over time. Users can select a research area, explore relevant publications, and track changes in research activity.
Start with an article that interests you: explore its topics, follow links to related publications, and refine your search query. When conducting research on digital childhood, use “Impulse” to compare research areas and identify questions for further investigation.