In the context of the state’s demonstrated interest in engaging youth in scientific activities and considering the imposed requirements for their publication activity in prestigious indexed scientific journals, the issue of potential hidden barriers becomes pertinent. Such obstacles include the limited openness of Russian scientific journals to student research, as well as existing biases manifested in prejudices regarding the quality of student works, which hinder the integration of young researchers into the scientific community. To examine this issue, an analysis was conducted on 509 Russian-language economic journals indexed in the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). Theoretical openness was assessed based on information about the target author audience provided on the official websites and pages of the publications on the eLIBRARY.ru platform. The actual representation of young scientists was determined using an indirect indicator – the average age of authors, accounting for dynamic changes. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and k-means clustering were applied in the R programming environment with visualization performed in Scimago Graphica. According to the obtained results, only 18.86% of journals explicitly declare openness to student publications, while 67.58% are characterized by an undefined policy and 13.56% by a closed one. Through clustering, four groups of journals were identified: elite stable (12%), conservative aging (29%), dynamic open (18%), and dynamic rejuvenating (41%). The findings confirm the presence of systemic barriers in the form of limited openness and doubts regarding student works, underscoring the conflict between journal prestige and accessibility for novice researchers. Overcoming these challenges is feasible through enhancing the transparency of editorial policies, including clear designation of the author audience. Additionally, through systematic efforts by scientific supervisors and curators of scientific societies–both directly with young scientists and via the creation of specialized databases of profile scientific journals open to students. Such measures would facilitate the optimization of publication activity among young scientists, ensuring the continuity of scientific personnel and contributing to the realization of state priorities in scientific development.
student research activity; young scholars; publication activity; student scientific society; editorial policy; average age of authors.