If am not quite sure about this one, have seen a few references on Google to it, but to me it sounds more like a translation from Russian rather than an English word. Maybe English native speakers will have a better idea?

SUMMARY
Ryzhkova T.S. Prose of the XVIII-th century in the history of
Russian fiction evolution: problem statement
In the article the problem of necessity studying of the originality
of the “second-rate” writers’ creativity as a *self-valuable* literary and
art phenomenon is given. The analysis of the phenomenon of Russian
fiction in this aspect is represented as an important historical-literary
problem.

http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/Soc_Gum/Sfil/Lit/2009_15/st_25...

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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-06-19 05:38:02 GMT)
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Another example. Please, see Аннотация and Abstract.

http://vuz.exponenta.ru/PDF/FOTO/kaz/Articles/Voronkova.pdf

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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-06-19 05:38:56 GMT)
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http://www.google.com.ua/#hl=uk&q=самоценный self-valuable&o...

or "for its own sake"

... to base a play on its own merit (rather than on the underlying literary work).