The article analyzes the key problems faced by social sciences and humanities in Russia. The author takes note of the need for accumulating resources available to the state and the professional communities – both to enhance the social role of the humanities and to expand the influence of Russian scholarly schools on the global academic discourse. The situation needs to be rectified in the current absence of demand on the part of the government and society for fundamental social and humanitarian research. At the same time, the increase in the role of these sciences presupposes their alignment with modern standards. In particular, it is necessary to take steps aimed at developing informational and ideological exchanges between representatives of different sciences, overcoming the phenomena inherent in domestic science for decades, such as descriptiveness of research and lack of competences of researchers. Many leading domestic experts in social sciences and humanities don’t have sufficient competence to perform scientific work in English. It is essential not only to ensure normal communication with global science, but also to fully master the tools to confirm the validity of the analytical judgments expressed. All this will help to overcome the peripheral situation of Russian social sciences and humanities, their isolation from the world science.