On September 12, 2025, the Russian part of the Unified State List of Scientific Publications - the “White List”, recommended for publications by researchers and scientists, as well as monitoring and evaluating the publication activity of Russian scientists was published. The journal Shagi / Steps was assigned the highest (first) level in the new list. Only 634 journals out of 3120 included (as of 09.09.2025) received the first level in the list.

In the previous version of the White List, Shagi / Steps was at level four. The improvement of positions in the list became possible due to the qualitative growth of the journal's scientometric indicators, as well as the improvement of editorial and publishing policies. Thus, according to Science Index data, the journal took 15th place in the subject of “Literature. Literary Criticism. Oral Folklore”, 23rd in the subject of “Linguistics” and 34th in the subject of “History. Historical Sciences” among all Russian journals in 2024. In 2025, the journal was included in the largest open access publication database DOAJ.

Inclusion in the new White List required each journal to undergo evaluation by specialized and regional branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences.