Publication records trace Ukrainian researchers out of Crimea and the Donbas after 2014

The rates are expressed per 1,000 actively publishing scholars ^[3]. On that base, Crimea's international loss comes to about 11.7 percent, more than one researcher in ten ^[1], and Donetsk's net loss to the rest of Ukraine in 2015 to 2017 is a little over 5 percent ^[2]. A method built on bylines ^[2] can follow only people who keep publishing. A researcher who left science after 2014 leaves no later affiliation to trace.

Net figures also fold two flows into one. According to the authors, some regions lost ground because more researchers left for institutions abroad, while others registered fewer arrivals from other countries ^[6]. A drop in incoming scholars and a wave of departures give a net rate the same sign, and only the second looks like people fleeing. In the east of the country, more scholars left than arrived ^[16].

The authors rest their case on timing. "The full-scale invasion made the displacement of Ukrainian researchers particularly visible, but our study shows that they were already leaving affected regions for other parts of Ukraine and abroad after Russia illegally annexed Crimea and fighting began in the Donbas in 2014," Akbaritabar said ^[12]. The study's summary describes war as "associated" with the internal redistribution ^[7].

One result went against the authors' own expectation. "We expected more developed regions to retain their own researchers and attract new ones. Instead, we found that they could also be places from which scholars were better able to relocate," Zaslavsky said ^[8]. Their possible explanation is that scholars in those regions have stronger links to other institutions, and so more chances to relocate when a crisis hits ^[9]. The broader argument is that qualifications and international ties do not necessarily protect researchers from forced displacement, or guarantee that those who want to leave can go ^[11].

The authors say publication histories show that institutional bases changed, not why individuals moved ^[10]. The paper sets out to test a common assumption, that scholars whose qualifications are sought after abroad can decide whether and where to go ^[14]. I think the forced reading holds at the regional scale, where the heaviest losses sit in Crimea and the Donbas after 2014 ^[4][3]. It rests on place and timing. Confirming it for individuals would take evidence from outside the byline record, such as interviews with the people who moved.

The international response to 2022 was quick. The hashtag #ScienceForUkraine was mobilizing support for affected researchers two days after Russian forces attacked in February of that year ^[13].