They were mostly published (mostly monthly) by VINITI (All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of the Russian Academy of Sciences located in Moscow).

In 2015 the fields covered by the internet versions are: The Referativnyi Zhuranli = Реферативные журналы (plural) = реферативный журнал (singular)= РЖ = RZh are a set of abstracting journals the first of which were initiated in the Soviet Union in 1952.

For example: Referativny Zhurnal Zhezhnodoroznyi Transport = "реферативный журнал, железнодорожный транспорт" = Abstracts of Railway Transportation, consisted of 5 parts: Railroad operation; locomotive and car construction; technical operation of rolling stock and traction of trains; railway construction, track and track maintenance; automation, remote control, and signalling on railroads.

Until the 1980s the RZh (РЖ) project was well funded but as the 1980s progressed (prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991) the situation started to deteriorate and some articles that should have been abstracted were not due to lack of staff (and money to hire them).

[1] The Referativny Zhurnal, notably the Mathematics series, was created as a Soviet counterpart to Western scientific publications, such as: