Mapping Life Sciences Research in India: A Profile Based on BIOSIS 1992-1994 Item Type Technical Report Authors Arunachalam, Subbiah Citation Mapping Life Sciences Research in India: A Profile Based on BIOSIS 1992-1994 1999, 76:1191-1203 Current Science Journal Current Science Download date 06/10/2021 08:52:01 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/106200 Mapping Life Sciences Research in India: A Profile Based on BIOSIS1992-1994 Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fello Informatiown i n Science M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Third Cross Street, Taramani, CHENNAI 600 113 Email: [email protected] Submitted to National Information Syste Sciencr mfo Technologe& y Departmen Scientifif o t Industriac& l Research Government of India, New Delhi 110 016 November 1998 Mapping Life Sciences Research in India: A Profile Based on BIOSIS1992-19!" Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow in Information Science SwaminathaS M n Research Foundation Third Cross Street, Taramani, CHENNAI 600 113 Email: [email protected] Submitted to National Information Syste Sciencr mfo Technologe& y Departmen Scientifif to Industriac& l Research Government of India, New Delhi 110016 November 1998 Abou authoe tth r Subbiah Arunachalam (Arunn informatioa s i ) n consultant basen i d Madras (now renamed Chennai Soutn i ) h keea Indi d n aan observe f o r scienc technologd ean bees Indian yha i n e associateH . d wit Indiae hth n academi scholarld can y community for over three editodecaden a s ra s- of scientific journals [Indian Journal of Technology, Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, Proceedings Indianthe of Academy 'Sciences,of and Pramana - Journal of Physics], a science writer, a researcher in chemistry a teache, f informatioo r n science a libraria, a nationa n i n l laboratory executive th , e secretar Indiae th f yno Academ f Sciencesyo a , part-time Visiting Professo e Indiath n i nr Institut f Technologyo e , Chennai a membe e editoriad th an ,f o r l board f scientifio s c journals. Currently he is a Distinguished Fellow in the M S Swaminathan Research Foundatio s researcHi . h interests include e sciencperipheryth n o e , scientometrics, and information access. He has recently completed a literature-based study on mapping science in India. He has more than 40 e editoriath n o ls i s paperx boardcredireferee hi si d an f o t o s s d international journals. He has delivered more than twenty invited talks in international conferences a membe s i e f e bot o H re Indiath . hth d an n International Science Writers Associations. Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow SwaminathaS M n Research Foundation CHENNAI 600 113 iitv m ernetirt <MDSAAA5 I@giasmd01 . vsnl.net.in> Mapping Life Sciences Researc Indiahn i : A Profile Based on BIOSIS 1992-1994 Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow in Information Science M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, CHENNAI600 113 Email: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Abstract Life sciences research carrie Indian i t sees da ,ou n fro journae mth l literature indexe thren di e yearf so BIOSIS Biological Abstracts (1992-1994) quantifies i , mappedd an d Indiae Th . n institutions activn ei life sciences research, the journals and sub-fields in which they publish their work, and the impact factors of the journals as seen from Journal Citation Reports 1992 and 1994 are identified. In the three years studied researchers from over 1,400 institutions locate oven citiesd0 i 45 r / towns have authored 20,046 paper 1,58n si 2 journals published fro countries2 m5 f thes.o Ovee% paperr54 s have appeared India8 i11 n n journals. While Indi contributes aha sub-fields0 d11 paper l al r contributio o st he , s nha exceeded 1,000 papers in three years in only four sub-fields, and 500 papers in seven other sub-fields. Only 49 institutions have published more than 100 papers each. The contribution made by different institution ofte6 6 sub-field3 2 no o t t s used an ds journal s highlightedi s . Mor f Indiao e tha% n64 n papers indexed in BIOSIS come from academic institutions. Among scientific agencies, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research have published more than 1,500 papers each. In all Indian researchers have published 188 papers (less than 1.0%) in journals with a 1994 impact factor greater than 4.0. More than 46.3 f %Indiao n papers have appeare non-5Cn di Y journals, and a further 37.5% of papers have been published in journals with impact factors less than 1.0. The analysis reveals the existence of two clusters: a large number of institutions devoted to agricultur classicad ean l biology, publishing mostl low-impacn yi t journals, ofte Indian ni n journalsd an , a smaller group of institutions publishing some papers in new biology and some areas of medicine in quality international journals of medium impact. The larger cluster includes the agricultural universities and many general universities, whil smallee eth r cluster include Indiae th s n Institut f Scienceeo l Al , India Institute of Medical Sciences, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Immunology, and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. While it would be desirable for Indian researchers to publish bulk of the agricultural research and a substantial part of medical research in Indian journals, they have no such constraint in new biology and can publish their work in high-impact international journals. Yet only a small proportion of Indian papers in biochemistry and molecular biology, general and internal medicine, microbiology, biophysics, immunology, and gastroenterology have appeare sucn di h journals. Introduction This report aims to map life sciences research in India as reflected by the journal literature, using standard technique scientometricsf so . Thi macroscopia s si c studyt a , e institutionath l level I hav .t analyse no ee leve th f e datindividuao t th ld a a l investigators. Also, I have not attempted to map the cognitive links among the researcher differenf so t institution their so r work. Biology at centrestage Twenty-firse Th t Centur undoubtedls yi Centure yth biologyf yo . Biology todan o s yi the fast-forward mode and is making rapid strides on many fronts. Ever since Watson and Crick published their one-pag Naturen i structure A Aprinotth n i n DN e o f leo 1953, biology never looked back. It became increasingly interdisciplinary and soon it centre th o t e stagey edgewa ,s dit dislodgin g physics transitioe Th . n from classical biology, largely concerned with structur functiod organise ean th t a n m w levelne o t , biology, wit overwhelmins hit almosd gan t reductionist concer r findinnfo g molecular level understanding of all biological phenomena, brought forth many challenges that could not obviously be answered by classical biology. There was perforce a need for the tool techniqued an sexpert d an f fieldn o i s s suc s chemistryha , physicd an s crystallography, to move in. That is precisely what happened. A large number of physicists, chemists d othean , r 'non-biologists' migrate o biologt d d helpean y d transform it. Indeed, long before the epoch-making paper of Watson and Crick, Erwin Schrodiriger physicista , , publishe cutdhis e little classic What life?is 1944in . Biology enjoys today the status enjoyed by physics during much of the first half of this Century. The challenge posed by the complexity of living systems has calibre th attracte f Philif o e o n pdme Anderson, Nobel laureatw physicsfe n ei a o wh , years ago taught a course in biology at Princeton to graduate students of physics. Life scientists have theinewspapern ow r e 12-year-olth , d bi-weekl Scientist,e yTh edited and published by Eugene Garfield of Current Contents and Science Citation Index fame. There Interne e th manb site ar en o we yst providin a gwhol e rangf o e informatio biologistso t n . Biolog s becomini y o populargs y overtak ma t e i , th e humanities as the foundation of American undergraduate education, says Joseph Perpich, Vice Presiden Howare th f o t d Hughes Medical Institute, probably America's largest philanthropy funding life science research. More than 50,000 studentw no s receive bachelor degree biologn si y eac hUnitee yeath n i rd Statee s ar alone e "W . beginnin quite se eo gt remarkabl e researc paperd han s coauthore undergraduatesy db justhau yo tt wouldn't have see year0 n2 s ago", Perpich says recenA . NationaS U t l Research Council report, however, warns thae streath t f mlifo e science students enterin e graduatth g e school pipeline shoul e frozeb d o prevent n t researcb hjo applications from flooding the market. Mega projects such as the Human Genome Project, the worldwide search for a vaccine for AIDS, viagra jokes and novels like Carl Djerassi's NO make sure that biology is never short of media attention. Today life sciences research receives far more funding than ever before. A recent example of a well-funded programme is the selection in September 1998 of 23 'collaborative researc infrastructurd han e projects' unde 'Plans rit t Genome Research Program Nationae th y b ' l Science Foundatio Unitee th f no d States. Together these projects, which will receiv millio5 e$8 n ove nexe rth t five years expectee ar , leao dt d to better understanding of the inner workings of plants such as cotton,, maize, soybean and tomat genome th t oa e level eventualld an , leao yt croo dt p improvement.