K. C. Garg

Scientometrics of computer science research in India and China

SummaryAn analysis of 2058 papers published by Chinese authors and 2678 papers published by Indian authors in the field of computer science during 1971-2000 indicates that Indias output is significantly higher than the Chinese output. However, China is catching up fast. Chinese researchers prefer to publish their research results in domestic journals, while Indian researchers prefer to publish their research results in journals published in the advanced countries of the West. Also the share of papers in journals covered by SCI for India was higher than from China. However, no significant difference has been observed in the impact of the research output of the two countries as seen by different impact indicators. Team research is more common in India as compared to China.

Activity and Growth of Organic Chemistry Research in India During 1971–1989

The paper investigates Indian organic chemistry research activity during 1971–1989 using Chemical Abstracts. It attempts at quantification of national contribution to world efforts, and identify areas of relative strengths and weaknesses. Also models the growth of Indian organic chemistry output to world organic chemistry output as a whole and in sub-fields where the activity index for the world and India are similar.

IMPACT OF SERC'S FUNDING ON RESEARCH IN CHEMICAL SCIENCES

The paper assesses impact of Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) funding in chemical sciences during 1976–1989 using scientometric techniques. Other indicators like awards won, fellowship to prestigious academies, membership to editorial boards received by the project investigators, Ph.D. degrees awarded, collaborations established and new courses introduced due to SERC funding have also been analyzed. The study indicates that activity index of research out put in various frontier areas of chemical sciences have gone up despite a decrease in Indian activity index in these areas. The growth pattern of papers for “Organometallic and Organometalloidal Compounds” are similar for India and world. Contribution of SERCs project investigators in high impact factor (≥2) journals and the citations received by the papers published by them are higher than Indian contributions in chemical sciences. The SERC funding has resulted in a three fold increase in the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded in chemical sciences and SERC project investigators have won many prestigious awards, fellowship to academies and membership of the editorial board of the journals. The SERC funded research has also resulted in new courses at various universities.

Assessment of impact of AICTE funding on R&D and educational development

SummaryAn analysis of 330 questionnaires received from project investigators funded by AICTE indicates that project investigators preferred to present their research results at conferences rather than in national and international journals. Impact of funding has been better on human resource capability development as compared to research and technological output. Analysis of data using data envelopment analysis indicates that projects funded under electronics and communication engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and management displayed some consistency and uniformity with regard to impact on various output parameters.

An overview of science and technology coverage in Indian English-language dailies

News items on science and technology in English-language newspapers published in different parts of India during January-December 1996 were analyzed. Results indicate that the greatest proportion of newspaper space was devoted to nuclear science and technology, followed by defense, space research, and astronomy. The Pioneer, The Hindu, and The Times of India were the newspapers that together devoted about 23 percent of the total space to items on science and technology. The sources for most of the articles (97 percent) on policy issues originated from within India, while for other stories foreign sources, including those from the United States and the United Kingdom, also contributed. Many of the items were supported by illustrations such as photographs and diagrams. The study indicates that, on average, Indian newspapers devoted far less than one percent of the total printed space to articles and stories related to science and technology.

Mapping of plant-based medicine research in China and India

An analysis of 2,183 papers published by Chinese researchers and 1,034 papers published by Indian researchers in the field of plant-based medicine during 1990–2004 and indexed by Pub Med indicates that Chinas output is more than twice to Indias output. Medical universities and colleges mainly contribute to Chinas output, while academic institutions mainly contribute to the Indian output. The major focus of Chinese researchers was on chemical analysis including chromatographic and spectrometric investigations, followed by oncology/radiation protection. Indian researchers emphasized gastroenteritis/liver diseases and oncology/radiation protection. The investigations were mainly focused on native plants of respective countries. Chinese researchers preferred to publish their work in domestic journals; Indian researchers in journals published from the Western countries. The share of papers in journals covered by SCI for India was higher than that from China. However, the proportion of papers in high impact factor journals for China is higher than for India. Average rate of citation for Chinese and Indian papers was almost the same. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Scientometric Profile of Global Dengue Research

Abstract An analysis of 2566 papers published during 1987 to 2008 and indexed by Science Citation Index – Expanded indicate a gradual rise in the quantum of output. About 80% of the papers appeared in journals originating from USA, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Total output came from 74 countries of which 17 countries contributed 87% of the total output. The highest number of publications came from USA, followed by India. However, in the later block (1998–2008) the proportion of output of both USA as well as India declined as compared to the first block (1987–1997). More than half of the scientific output is concentrated among four sub-disciplines of microbiology & virology, immunology & vaccine, epidemiology and entomology. Among the prolific institutions, the publication output of institutions from the US and Taiwan had higher impact. Of all the papers published 17% did not get any citations. Incidence of High Quality Papers, Citations per Paper (CPP) and Relative Quality Index (RQI) were more than average for USA. The proportion of co-authored papers increased significantly in the year 2008 as compared to 1987. The proportion of mega authored paper was high for the Netherlands, Taiwan, China, Cuba, Brazil, France and Japan.

S&T coverage in English-language Indian dailies

The paper examines the coverage of S&T related items published in selected Englishlanguage Indian newspapers in terms of their quantification and thematic representation. S&T is not the priority of the English-language newspapers in India. Even sports get several times more coverage than science. There is a case for amply visible representation of science in the press. Health, Environment, Space S&T, and Astronomy were the four dominant subjects covered. Most of the science covered in the newspapers was performed in the US, the UK and other advanced countries of Europe. Among all the newspapers, The Times of India devoted the maximum space to S&T coverage.

Lotka's law and institutional productivity

The present study aims at determining the applicability of Lotkas law, negative binomial distribution and lognormal distribution for institutional productivity, in the same way as it is to authors and their productivity in the field of engineering sciences and the patents filed by industrial firms in laser S&T. The study indicates that non of the three distributions are applicable for institutional productivity in engineering sciences. However, Lotkas law holds good for full as well as truncated set of data for the patents filed by industrial firms.

Biomedical Research Coverage in English-Language Indian Newspapers

The present paper explores biomedical research coverage in the Indian English-language newspapers. Science and technology coverage in the Indian English-language newspapers revealed dominant representation of biomedical research. The research reported was mainly from foreign sources, mostly performed in US, UK and other developed countries of Europe. Plausibly, this was the major reason that areas of medical concerns in foreign countries such as Neuroscience, Oncology, Genetics and Cardiovascular research constituted more than one-third of the total space whereas neglected tropical diseases have almost been neglected in the coverage. This is despite the fact that tropical and other neglected diseases constitute the greatest health problem in India. The study discusses the significance of this research for policy planners, media, health information dissemination and those concerned about informed and science literate citizenry in the country.