Dissertations in psychology in Russia: Current trends, problems and prospects

Introduction. The article analyses the current trends, problems and prospects of psychological science in the context of dissertation research in Russia. The need for such an analysis stems from scientific trends and processes, on the one hand, and from various aspects of the socio-political agenda, such as the development goals set by the government for higher education, on the other hand. Materials and Methods. The paper presents an expert analysis of dissertations in psychological sciences that were considered in 2022 by the Expert Council of the Higher Assessment Committee on Pedagogy and Psychology. The analysis focused on dissertation topics, the work of dissertation councils, and the number of successfully defended doctoral (kandidat nauk) and post-doctoral (doctor nauk) dissertations in various psychological specialties. Results. The authors carried out a thematic analysis of doctoral and post-doctoral dissertations in psychological sciences that were considered by the Expert Council of the Higher Assessment Committee on Pedagogy and Psychology in 2022. The authors also analyzed the productivity of dissertation councils and considered the problems typical of the preparation of dissertation research in psychological sciences. Within the framework of the thematic analysis, priority areas of research within each specialty are considered, their correlation with current political and social demands is analyzed. Quantitative analysis of successfully defended doctoral (kandidat nauk) and post-doctoral (doctor nauk) dissertations in various specialties showed that the largest number of works were prepared on the specialty 19.00.05 (Social Psychology). Attention should also be paid to the fact that there are no post-doctoral (doctor nauk) works in five of the nine scientific specialties of the psychological profile: social psychology, medical psychology, correctional psychology, psychophysiology. Discussion. The authors put forward a number of proposals to improve the quality of dissertation research — among other things, the authors stress that it is necessary to comply with the Program of Fundamental Scientific Research in the Russian Federation for the Long Term (2021–2030) when selecting the topics of dissertation research in the psychological sciences.