Mapping Agricultural Research in India: A Profile Based on CAB Abstracts 1998

Arunachalam, Subbiah and Umarani, K. (2001) Mapping Agricultural Research in India: A Profile Based on CAB Abstracts 1998. Current Science 81(8):pp. 896-906.

Abstract

CAB Abstracts 1998 had indexed 11,855 publications from India, including 10,412 journal articles, from more than 1280 institutions in 531 locations. These were classified into 21 major research fields and 243 subfields. ‘Plants of economic importance’ (FF) is the leading area of research in India, followed by ‘Animal science’ (LL). The three subfields with the largest number of papers are: ‘Pests, pathogens and biogenic diseases of plants’, FF600 (1301 papers), ‘Plant breeding and genetics’, FF020 (1135 papers), and ‘Plant production’, FF100 (786 papers). In contrast, there were only 54 papers in ‘Biotechnology’ (WW). Academic institutions accounted for a little over 59% of the papers in 1998, as against 63.4% in the five years 1990–1994, and scientific agencies of the central government accounted for 22% of the papers. Agricultural universities had published 4039 papers and agricultural colleges 523 papers. Indian researchers had published over 78% of the 10,412 journal articles in 208 Indian journals, 587 papers in 180 UK journals, and 368 papers in 124 US journals. In no other field do Indian researchers publish such a large per cent of papers in Indian journals. Letters journals were used only infrequently: 317 papers in 40 letters journals. More than 8060 papers were published in non-SCI journals, and 1925 papers were published in journals of impact factor less than 1.0. Only 33 papers were published in journals of impact factor higher than 3.0. We have identified institutions publishing large number of papers in different subfields, in different journals, in journals of different impact factors, etc. This macroscopic analysis not only provides an inventory of India’s publications, but also gives an idea of endogenous research capacity. If appropriately linked with public policy, it can help restructure the nation’s research priorities.