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.

The volume of the journal «Shagi / Steps» (2026, no. 2) will be a special issue on “Archaization and Modernization in Literature”. This volume intends to ask what archaizing or modernizing means in literature and in translation across the world. The editorial board invites contributions on related themes, concepts and debates, from a variety of perspectives. Contributions with a contemporary or historical perspective are equally welcome. 

Time is a constant presence in the world of literature. Authors exist in historical time; their characters live and act in storytelling time, somehow related to the historical one. How do authors of different epochs deal with the signs of time, how do they describe the past and the present? Do they use the stylized language of the past to describe the past or openly modernize the speech of their ancestors? Do they use modern jargon to describe the present or tend to avoid bright colors? Time poses even more problems for translators: what strategy should they choose when translating old texts? Should the language of translation be archaized and, if so, to what extent? Or, on the contrary, should they take the path of deliberate and obvious modernization? In what cases is this not only acceptable, but also effective?

Articles are selected for publication on the basis of an anonymous peer-review system. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2025.