The paper discusses the principles of the discourse markers identification in a scientific text. Discourse markers are considered as linguistic units that fulfill auxiliary communicationand speech-organizing functions in scientific discourse. The first part of the paper reviews the integral signs and properties of the discursive markers (multifunctionality, syncretism, polysemy)
and reveals the key functions performed by the discursive markers in scientific discourse. The second part of the paper presents the results of the analysis of using discursive markers in scientific discourse. These results make it possible to determine the following functional groups of discursive markers in written scientific discourse: discursive markers ensuring the text coherence, conveying the author’s attitude to what has been said, and reflecting the process of interaction between the author and the reader.