A research article is a result of scholar’s work that can be measured and must be presented in compliance with publishing conventions of a scientific journal. However, it turns out that in the same culture these conventions can change in a short period of time. The article presents the results of a contrastive analysis of research articles published in a scientific journal. The research corpus is studied with reference to two dimensions – form and content orientation, reader and writer orientation. The analysis reveals significant differences in how a research article is constructed in two different periods of time in the same culture. The conclusion is made that the changing conventions of presenting a work of science reflect transformation of academic environment and social perceptions about the role of science and scholarly activities.