Type of the article: Research Article
The propagandistic instrumentalization of science occurs not only through academic text content but also through institutional authority, territorial affiliations, bibliographic metadata, and publishing infrastructure. These practices may confer signals of academic legitimacy on politically oriented claims and increase their potential international visibility; infrastructural presence alone is not treated as evidence of legitimation. However, this infrastructural dimension of propaganda has received considerably less scholarly attention than message content. This study identifies and systematizes the methods through which scholarly communication is instrumentalized for propaganda, using contemporary Russian practice as an empirical case. Designed as a qualitative documentary multiple-case study, its empirical basis comprises a purposively constructed corpus of 2024–2026 monitoring materials, primary documents, prior studies, institutional web resources, and bibliographic records. Inductive-abductive analysis, thematic document coding, and cross-case comparison yielded a preliminary analytical typology of three methods: content-based construction of politically useful knowledge; authority- and institution-based legitimation; and affiliation-based territorial normalization of annexation. These methods are implemented through material, organizational, and digital forms, including scholarly texts, editorial boards, institutional statuses, affiliations, metadata, DOIs, scientometric databases, and publishing partnerships. At the theoretical level, the three methods are interpreted through four proposed analytical mechanisms: producing politically useful knowledge or ignorance; leveraging the cultural authority of science; politicizing classifications and standards; and organizing visibility and international circulation. The resulting configurational model demonstrates that these methods, forms, and proposed analytical mechanisms combine dynamically rather than forming a rigid sequence. The findings provide evidence-based reference points for auditing academic journals, university affiliations, metadata, indexing databases, and publishing partnerships.
Acknowledgment(s)
This research was conducted within the framework of the Project 0126U003080 NFDU (2026-2028) Science as a tool of propaganda: identification, analysis and counteraction using the example of the russian scientific system
