Research in Indian Medical Institutes
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90 THE NATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA VOL. 4, NO.2 Research in Indian medical institutes K. SUDHAKAR REDDY, P. SAHNI, G. K. PANDE, S. NUNDY ABSTRACT We compared these results with the output of ten other Background and methods. The research output of medical well known medical institutions elsewhere. institutions in India is thought to vary considerably, although no studies have been done since 1965. We consulted the RESULTS Corporate Index of the Science Citation Index to count the number of publications included from each of the 128 Research output between 1980 and 1988 (Table I) medical institutions in India between 1981 and 1988. We also Of the 128 Indian medical colleges existing in 1988, 121 compared these results to the number of publications from lead- were listed in the Corporate Index during 1980 to 1988. ing international institutions in 1988. Only 6 (4.7%) published more than 50 articles a year in Results. Only 6 (4.7%) institutions had over 50 articles per SCI covered journals. These were the All India Institute year included, 33 (26%) had 5 to 50 articles included, 43 (38%) of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; the Postgraduate Institute had 1 to 5 articles and 41 (32%) had less than one article of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; the included. Seven medical colleges had none. Only the All Institute of Medical Sciences in Varanasi; the Tata India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the Post- graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Memorial Hospital and Cancer Research Institute in Chandigarh could be compared with the world leaders. Bombay; the Christian Medical College in Vellore and the Conclusions. The quality of research from Indian medical King George Medical College in Lucknow. Thirty-three colleges is low. To improve it we suggest teaching institutions (26%) institutions produced between 5 and 50 articles per should forbid their faculty to undertake private practice. year, 45 (38%) produced between 1 and 5 publications a research grants should be disbursed more evenly and year and 41 (32%) less than one publication a year. Seven research achievement should be considered an important medical colleges had not produced any articles in SeI criterion for selection and promotion. covered journals over this nine year period. The annual output was fairly constant and this is reflected by the small INTRODUCTION standard deviations about the mean. There have been very few attempts to compare research The top six institutions contributed 56% of the total from different medical institutions and colleges in India' number of publications while the remaining 122 contributed although there is an impression that hath its quality and 44%. (The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New quantity vary considerably. Delhi and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education One way to evaluate research output would he to com- and Research, Chandigarh contributed 35% ofthe total.) pare the total number of papers published in prestigious medical journals." These data are now available in the Foreign medical institutes Science Citation Index (SCI), a monthly publication from In Table III we list the number of papers in the 1988 Philadelphia. USA. which covers high quality journals Corporate Index from ten well known foreign medical and provides information on how many times a particular institutions. This varies between 371 from Med HSCH. article by an author is cited in another. Each year the SCI Hanover, Fed Rep Ger and 2610 from Mayo Foundation, publishes a Corporate Index which lists the papers it Rochester, Minnesota, USA. carries according to their institution of origin. Using this we have assessed the research output of Indian medical DISCUSSION colleges over nine years (1980-8). Our study indicates that there is a wide variation in the number of 'quality' publications from different Indian METHODS .medical institutions. Only six managed to produce over From the Corporate Index we counted the total number 50 papers a year in SCI covered journals and these 'elite' of publications (including original articles, reviews, short institutions contributed over half the total number of communications, case reports and reports of conferences papers. Indeed the total number of papers included in the and symposia) listed under each Indian medical institution. SCI from all the medical institutions in Calcutta (45) was If the medical college was not listed in 1980, we calculated less than a fifth of the annual output of the All India Institute the mean annual number of publications in the years since of Medical Sciences. Moreover, apparently only two its name first appeared in the Corporate Index. medical institutes, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh can be All India Institute of Medical Sciences. New Delhi 110029. India K. SUDHAKAR REDDY. P. SAHNI. G. K. PANDE. S. NUNDY compared with well known institutes abroad but even Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery their research output is less than that of the world leaders. Correspondence to S. NUNDY © The National Medical Journal of India 1991 TABLE 1. Indian medical institutes ranked by the number of publications in SCI covered journals Medical institute City Average S.D. Rank Medical institute City Average S.D. Rank number number of pub li- ofpuhli- cations cations (1980-8) ( I980--ll) All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi 237.56 37.3 Government Medical College Jammu 2.44 2.7 56 Postgraduate Institute of Medical Madurai Medical College and Education and Research Chandigarh 218.67 41.0 2 Government Rajaji Hospital Madurai 2.44 1.7 56 Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Government Medical College Patiala 2.44 1.6 56 Hindu University Varanasi 77.67 23.4 M.S. Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore 2.22 2.8 61 Tata Memorial Hospital and Cancer L.L.R.M. Medical College Meerut 2.22 1.3 61 Research Institute Bombay 69.11 12.2 4 B.R.D. Medical College Gorakhpur 2.11 1.9 63 Christian Medical College Vellore 64.11 12.8 5 Gandhi Medical College Bhopal z.oo 2.8 64 King George Medical College Lucknow 60.89 19.0 6 S.C.B. Medical College Cuttack 1.78 2.5 65 Seth G.S. Medical College and K.E.M. National Medical College Calcutta 1.7S 2.0 65 Hospital Bombay 39.78 14.4 7 Burdwan Medical College Burdwan 1.78 1.9 65 Maulana Azad Medical College and Kurnool Medical College Kurnool 1.67 2.2 68 L.N.J.P. Hospital New Delhi 37.56 6.4 8 Government Medical College Aurangabad 1.67 1.9 68 Jawaharlallnstitute of Postgraduate Medical College Calcutta 1.67 I.R 6S Medical Education and Research Pondicherry 35.56 5.0 9 M.G.M. Medical College Indore 1.67 1.7 68 Kasturba Medical College Manipal 25.56 10.4 10 Gaja Raja Medical College Gwalior 1.67 1.1 68 J awaharlal Nehru Medical College Aligarh 24.44 8.8 II Government Medical College Nagpur 1.44 1.4 73 National Institute of Mental Health Andhra Medical College Vishakhapatnam 1.44 1.4 73 and Neurosciences Bangalore 20.33 6.0 12 Medical College and Hospital Kottayarn 1.44 1.2 73 Sree Chitra Tirunallnstitute of Medical VS.S. Medical College Burla 1.33 2.0 76 Sciences and Technology Trivandrum 20.00 7.9 13 Gandhi Medical College Hyderahad 1.33 0.9 76 G.B. Pant Hospital New Delhi 19.78 7.7 14 Government Medical College Jabalpur 1.33 0.7 76 Grant Medical College and J.J. Group Rajendra Medical College Ranchi 1.22 1.6 79 of Hospitals Bombay 17.33 4.4 IS Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology Bangalore 1.22 1.6 79 National Institute of Virology Pune 17.22 5.9 16 Regional Medical College Imphal 1.11 1.7 81 Medical College and Hospital Rohtak 15.89 5.8 17 Kilpauk Medical College Madras 1.11 1.4 81 Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Kasturba Medical College Mangalore I. I I 0.9 81 Centre Calcutta 14.56 6.3 18 Dayanand Medical College Ludhiana 1.0() 2.1 84 Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi 14.56 4.9 18 Coirnbatore Medical College Coimhatore 1.00 1.0 84 Lady Hardinge Medical College New Delhi 13.44 6.9 20 M. R. Medical College Gulbarga 1.00 0.7 84 Rabindranath Tagore Medical College Udaipur 12.56 6.3 21 J.N. Medical College Belgaum 1.00 0.7 84 St John's Medical College Bangalore 11.33 3.9 22 Medical College Calicut 0.89 1.4 88 LokmanyaTilakMunicipal Medical College Bombay 10.78 6.6 23 Medical College Amritsar 0.89 1.2 88 Madras Medical College and Government Bangalore Medical College Bangalorc 0.89 0.9 88 General Hospital Madras 10.67 4.7 24 M.K.C.G. Medical College Berhampur 0.89 0.8 88 Osmania Medical College Hyderabad \0.00 5.4 25 T.D. Medical College Alleppey 0.67 1.0 92 S. M.S. Medical College Jaipur 9.89 2.4 26 M.P. Shah Medical College Jamnagar 0.67 1.0 92 Haffkine Institute Bombay 9.33 3.8 27 S.K. Medical College Muzaffarpur 0.67 0.9 92 Institute of Postgraduate Medical Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences Calcutta 0.67 0.1 92 Education and Research Calcutta 9.22 10.0 28 R.G. Kar Medical College Calcutta 0.56 J.3 96 Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine Calcutta 8.67 3.3 29 Gauhati Medical College Gauhati 0.56 1.0 96 University College of Medical Sciences New Delhi 8.44 4.9 30 Rangaraya Medical College Kakinada 0.56 0.7 96 S.