National Mapping of Science: Earth Sciences Research in India

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ISSN 0971-7102
Vol 21 No 1 March 2002

 

 

National Mapping of Science:
Earth Science Research in India

 

 

ABSTRACT

The study was undertaken to quantify and map the research efforts of Indian earth scientists basing the CD-ROM version of the GeoRef database. In all, the database included 1501 Indian publications in 1990, 747 in 1994, and 879 in 1998. India ranked 10th in the world on the publication count during 1990 and 11th both in 1994 and 1998. USA topped the list followed by Canada in 1990 and 1994. However, UK took the 2nd position in 1998. The database showed a decline in the number of publications produced by almost all the countries during 1994 and 1998. Possibly it was due to the reduction in coverage by the database. In language-wise distribution of publications English topped the list followed by Russian, Chinese, French and German. However, during 1994 Chinese occupied the second position and in 1998 Russian regained the second position. Of the Indian publications more than 75% were published in Indian sources only. All the publications by the Indian scientists were in English excepting four Russian articles, two Hindi articles, one Japanese and one French article. All the publications by the Indian scientists are found to be analytic in nature. Igneous and metamorphic petrology is found to be the major area of research chosen by the Indians followed by applied geophysics, economic geology, stratigraphy, structural geology, and engineering geology. More than 50% of the Indian publications appeared in journals and the rest in conference documents, books, etc. Some publications were simply abstracts. In city-wise distribution of publications, Calcutta, Dehra Dun, Lucknow, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Bangalore occupied the top positions. In state-wise distribution West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra occupied the top positions. In the institution-wise distribution of publications, Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Geophysical Research Institute, Birbal Sahani Institute of Paleobotany, and National Institute of Oceanography occupied the top positions. It is interesting to note that 70% of the Indian publications is shared by the first 12 institutions in India. Of the top 10 sources where the Indian scientists placed their publications 9 are from India.

KEYWORDS: India; Earth science research; GeoRef database; Scientometric study.

INTRODUCTION

This study was taken up to quantify and map the Indian contributions in the field of earth sciences basing the CD-ROM version of the GeoRef database published by the American Geological Institute, USA for the years 1986-1997 and 1997 - August 2000. The GeoRef database contains over 1.9 million records of North America since 1785 and other areas of the world since 1933. The database has devised its own classification system to organise the literature as per their 50 category codes (CC). The GeoRef records encompass 17 fields.

METHODOLOGY

The records of the years 1990, 1994 and 1998 were downloaded from the CD-ROM version of GeoRef database using the following combination of bibliographic data fields for the analysis:
Set 1 PY = 1990/1994/1998 and INDIA in AF;
Set 1 and Source;
Set 1 and Country of Publication;
Set 1 and Category Codes;
Set 1 and Year of Publication;
Set 1 and Language of the Article;
Set 1 and Document Type;
Set 1 and Treatment of the Work;
Set 1 and Author Affiliation and Category Codes

The database included 1501 records from India in 1990, 747 records in 1994, and 897 records in 1998.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The coverage of Indian literature in GeoRef is not exhaustive. Hence, some Indian publications belonging to 1990, 1994 and 1998, which were not covered in the GeoRef database could not be included in this study.

ANALYSIS

The analysis of data was carried out according to type of publication, source of the publication, country of publication, name of the institution, address of the institution, language of publication, subject of publication, year of publication, etc. to determine Indian contributions to world's literature in earth sciences, top priority areas for research, places of publication, top journals/sources where Indian publications were published, major institutions and their priority areas of research, geographic distribution of the origin of publications, etc.

Country-Wise Distribution of Publications

As per the data presented in Table 1, India ranks 10th in the world based on the publication count during 1990 and 11th in 1994 and 1998. USA tops the list followed by Canada in 1990 and 1994. However, UK took the 2nd position in 1998. Almost all the countries recorded a decline in the number of publications produced during 1994 and 1998 compared to 1990. There are some slight shifts in percentage share and ranks during 1994 and 1998 from 1990.

Table 1: Country-Wise Distribution of Publications

Country 1990 % Rank 1994 % Rank 1998 % Rank
World 72286 100   56813 100   49933 100  
USA 22513 31.14 1 19217 33.83 1 14893 29.83 1
Canada 3838 5.31 2 3029 5.33 2 2295 4.60 4
China 3370 4.66 3 2310 4.07 8 2332 4.67 5
Russia 3374 4.67 4 1743 3.07 4 2260 4.53 3
UK 3211 4.44 5 2723 4.79 3 2754 5.52 2
France 2919 4.04 6 2039 3.59 5 1856 3.72 7
Japan 2296 3.18 7 1849 3.25 6 1916 3.84 6
Germany 2214 3.06 8 1760 3.10 7 1594 3.19 8
Australia 1817 2.51 9 1378 2.43 9 1505 3.01 9
India 1501 2.08 10 747 1.31 11 879 1.76 11
Italy 830 1.15 11 1153 2.03 10 1264 2.53 10
Netherlands 574 0.79 12 477 0.84 12 591 1.18 12
Switzerland 444 0.61 13 369 0.65 13 420 0.84 13
Israel 288 0.40 14 331 0.58 14 216 0.43 14
Greece 187 0.26 15 111 0.20 17 170 0.34 15
Malaysia 94 0.13 16 158 0.28 15 10 0.02 18
Korea 56 0.08 17 126 0.22 16 136 0.27 16
Pakistan 38 0.05 18 21 0.04 18 21 0.04 17
Total   68.57     69.60     70.32  
Others 22722 31.43   17272 30.40   14821 29.68  

Language-wise Distribution of Publications

Table 2 depicts the language-wise distribution of publications from all over the world as well as from India. Globally, in all the years English has topped the list. In 1990, Russian, Chinese and French took respectively the second, third and fourth place. In 1994, the position changed - Chinese took the second position, followed by Russian and Japanese. In 1998, Russian regained the second position followed by Chinese and Japanese.

Table 2: Language-wise Distribution of Publications

Language 1990 1994 1998
World Indian World Indian World Indian
English 56028 1499 48243 742 43289 878
Russian 5063 0 1075 1 1637 0
Chinese 2530 0 1261 0 1521 0
French 2572 0 844 3 870 1
German 1351 0 636 0 103 0
Japanese 1072 0 923 1 888 0
Spanish 960 0 870 0 500 0
Polish 79 0 59 0 157 0
Hindi 02 2 00 0 00 0
Arabic 01 0 03 0 02 0
Others 4771 0 2899 0 966 0
Total 72286 1501 56813 747 49933 879

Indians have contributed only in English with very few exceptions. In 1990, only two publications appeared in Hindi. In 1994, three publications were in Russian , and one each in Russian and Japanese, and in 1998 only one publication was in French. Amongst Indian languages Hindi figured but once in 1990.

Distribution of Indian Contributions as per Country of Publication

Indian earth scientists published about 74% of their contributions within the country in 1990 (Table 3). The percentage declined to about 50% in 1994 and rose to over 62% in 1998. It cannot be said to be a real decline as the database has reduced coverage after 1990. The prominent foreign countries where Indian scientists placed their publications are Netherlands followed by USA, UK, Germany and other countries.

Table 3: Indian Contribution as per Country of Publication

Country of Publication 1990 % 1994 % 1998 %
India 1117 74.42 370 49.53 549 62.46
Netherlands 122 8.13 73 9.77 63 7.17
United States 53 3.53 73 9.77 86 9.78
United Kingdom 44 2.93 39 5.22 52 5.92
Germany 20 1.33 10 1.34 6 0.68
Austria 13 0.87 4 0.54 2 0.23
Switzerland 6 0.40 2 0.27 8 0.91
Greece 6 0.40 0 0.00 0 0.00
Japan 4 0.27 8 1.07 15 1.71
China 4 0.27 0 0.00 1 0.11
Poland 2 0.13 0 0.00 2 0.23
France 2 0.13 3 0.40 2 0.23
Canada 1 0.07 9 1.20 4 0.46
Thailand 1 0.07 0 0.00 2 0.23
Finland 1 0.07 2 0.27 2 0.23
Hungary 1 0.07 3 0.40 1 0.11
Czech Republic 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Iran 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Monaco 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Pakistan 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Slovak Republic 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Sweden 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
USSR 1 0.07 0 0.00 0 0.00
Hong Kong 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.23
New Zealand 0 0.00 1 0.13 0 0.00
Norway 0 0.00 1 0.13 0 0.00
Russian Federation 0 0.00 1 0.13 0 0.00
Malaysia 0 0.00 2 0.27 0 0.00
Spain 0 0.00 2 0.27 0 0.00
Nepal 0 0.00 59 7.90 0 0.00
Other countries 97 6.46 85 11.38 82 9.33
    100.00   100.00   100.00
Total 1501   747   879  

Channels of Communication

More than 50% of the Indian earth science literature was published in journals and the rest in other types of documents like books, conference proceedings, and reports (Table 4). Some of the publications were in the form of abstracts and maps.

Table 4: Channels of Communication

Sl. No. Channels 1990 1994 1998
1. Journals 630 559 611
2. Books 37 14 14
3. Others (Abstracts, Conference Papers, Maps, Reports) 834 174 254
  Total 1501 747 879

City-wise Distribution of Indian Publications

The city-wise distribution of Indian publications is presented in Table 5 which shows that in 1990 Calcutta tops the list followed by Dehra Dun and Hyderabad, in 1994 Dehra Dun tops the list followed by Lucknow and New Delhi, and in 1998 Hyderabad tops the list followed by Calcutta and Bangalore. It shows that no city is constantly occupying the first position. However, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Dehra Dun are remaining within the first five cities as far as productivity is concerned. In all, 17 cities figuring in the Table which except in one case have contributed more than five publications each, in all the years.

Table 5 : City-wise (Top cities) Distribution of Indian Publications

City 1990 Rank 1994 Rank 1998 Rank
Calcutta 411 1 52 4 79 2
Dehra Dun 131 2 93 1 44 4
Hyderabad 115 3 43 5 113 1
Bangalore 75 4 22 10 49 3
Lucknow 65 5 57 2 37 5
New Delhi 48 6 54 3 37 6
Dhanbad 44 7 18 11 17 15
Panaji 41 8 38 6 17 15
Mumbai 35 9 24 8 17 15
Nagpur 34 10 16 12 25 9
Jaipur 28 11 7 15 24 10
Roorkee 28 11 23 9 21 12
Bhubaneswar 21 13 3 17 25 8
Ahmedabad 18 14 24 7 26 7
Mysore 13 15 7 15 18 14
Trivandrum 12 16 10 13 20 13
Chennai 6 17 10 13 22 11
Others 376   246   288  
Total 1501   747   879  

State-wise Distribution of Indian Publications

Table 6 depicts the state-wise distribution of publications. In 1990 West Bengal tops the list with 442 publications followed by Uttar Pradesh (285), Andhra Pradesh (155), Karnataka (125), and others. In 1994 Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 210 publications followed by West Bengal (86), Maharashtra (60) and others. In 1998, Uttar Pradesh again tops the list with 155 publications followed by Andhra Pradesh (143) and West Bengal (99). It can be seen from the Table that West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh have retained their positions within the first four in all the three years In all, 13 states are figuring in the Table.

Table 6: State-wise (Top States) Distribution of Publications

State 1990 Rank 1994 Rank 1998 Rank
West Bengal 442 1 86 2 99 3
Uttar Pradesh 285 2 210 1 155 1
Andhra Pradesh 155 3 59 4 143 2
Karnataka 125 4 44 6 80 4
Maharashtra 93 5 60 3 59 5
Bihar 61 6 25 9 29 11
Delhi 49 7 54 5 37 9
Rajasthan 42 8 17 11 40 7
Goa 41 9 39 7 17 13
Gujarat 35 10 31 8 49 6
Orissa 27 11 5 13 27 11
Kerala 20 12 17 11 29 9
Tamil Nadu 9 13 20 10 40 7
Others 117   81   75  
Total 1501   747   879  

Subject-Wise Distribution of Publications

All the publications of Indian scientists during the year 1990, 1994 and 1998 are found to be analytic in nature. It is observed from Table 7 that in all the three years igneous and metamorphic petrology has been the most productive area of research in India respectively with 177, 85, and 161 articles. In 1990, the second and third positions are held by the economic geology, geology of ore deposits; and engineering geology with 172 and 171 articles respectively. The scenario changes in 1994, when stratigraphy takes the second position with 73 articles and engineering geology and applied geophysics the third position with 71 articles each. In 1998 stratigraphy retains the second position with 98 articles to its credit, and geochemistry of rocks, soils, and sediments occupies the third position with 84 articles. From Table 7 it is clear that igneous and metamorphic petrology is receiving the highest attention from geologists followed by subjects like stratigraphy, engineering geology, and applied geophysics.

Table 7: Subject-wise Distribution of Indian Publications

Sl. No. Subjects 1990 Rank 1994 Rank 1998 Rank
1 Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology 177 1 85 1 161 1
2 Economic Geology, Geology of Ore Deposits 172 2 34 13 75 4
3 Engineering Geology 171 3 71 3 58 9
4 Applied Geophysics 155 4 71 3 75 4
5 Stratigraphy 120 5 73 2 98 2
6 Structural Geology 103 6 51 7 54 10
7 Sedimentary Petrology 91 7 48 8 49 11
8 Hydrogeology 82 8 61 5 60 8
9 Economic Geology, Geology of Energy Sources 73 9 30 14 45 12
10 Geochemistry of Rocks, Soils, and Sediments 72 10 61 5 84 3
11 Oceanography 50 11 36 12 18 17
12 Soils 46 12 42 10 69 7
13 Economic Geology 45 13 7 19 14 18
14 Solid Earth Geophysics 41 14 25 16 42 13
15 Environmental Geology 36 15 47 9 75 4
16 Quaternary Geology 35 16 28 15 27 15
17 Paleobotany 32 17 40 11 14 18
18 Seismology 30 18 20 18 26 16
19 Isotope Geochemistry 24 19 22 17 34 14
20 Others 235   130   123  
Total   1790   982   1201  

Coverage of the Subjects by Institutions

It is also observed from the study that Geological Survey of India (GSI), has covered almost all areas of geology. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Geophysical Research Institute; National Institute of Oceanography; Indian School of Mines; Jadavpur University; and Banaras Hindu University have also covered a wide spectrum of geology in their research work.

Organization-wise Distribution of Publications

Table 8 shows the organizations that have contributed 20 or more articles during 1990, 1994 and 1998 taken together. As can be expected, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and its branches taken together stay way ahead others with a tally of 685 articles, followed by Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (177). Both these organizations together account for about 28% of the total publications. It is interesting to note that more than 50% of the total publications is shared by the first 12 Institutions. Of the organizations figuring in Table 8 National Geophysical Research Institute (rank: 3rd), National Institute of Oceanography (rank: 5th), and Central Mining Research Institute (rank: 27th) are the constituents of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Among the universities, Banaras Hindu University and University of Roorkee come first both ranking 6th, followed by Andhra University (rank: 10th), University of Delhi (rank: 12th), Osmania University (rank: 15th), University of Mysore (rank: 17th), Bangalore University (rank: 19th), M.S. University of Baroda (rank: 20th), Aligarh Muslim University (rank: 21st), University of Calcutta (rank: 21st), and Karnatak University (rank: 25th). It may be noted that of the 27 organizations figuring in the Table, as many as 11 are universities. Of the Indian Institutes of Technology, only two appear in this Table, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (rank: 11th) and Indian Institute of Technology, Powai (rank: 18th).

The number of contributions from colleges is pretty small which does not average even one per college. About 60 colleges have contributed articles during 1990, 1994 and 1998 - the number being 39, 24 and 45 respectively. The three colleges that contributed more than 5 articles in the aforesaid three years are: Presidency College, Calcutta (12 articles), Deccan College, Poona (7 articles), and D S College, Aligarh (6 articles).

Table 8: Top Ranking Top Institutions as per Publication Count

Organization 1990 1994 1998 Total Rank
Geological Survey of India (Head Office and Branches taken together) 507 63 115 685 1
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun 92 59 26 177 2
National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 58 26 72 156 3
Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow 35 47 20 102 4
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa 39 35 17 91 5
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 27 18 15 60 6
University of Roorkee, Roorkee 25 19 16 60 6
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 13 19 23 55 8
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 39 6 8 53 9
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 26 15 10 51 10
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 20 14 13 47 11
University of Delhi, Delhi 15 22 7 44 12
Oil and National Gas Commission, Dehra Dun 12 18 10 40 13
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 14 10 13 37 14
Atomic Minerals Division, Begumpet, Hydearbad 17 7 9 33 15
Osmania University, Hyderabad 22 3 8 33 15
University of Mysore,Mysore 11 6 15 32 17
Indian Institute of Technology, Powai 12 14 4 30 18
Bangalore University, Bangalore 20 0 8 28 19
M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara 13 1 11 25 20
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 13 5 6 24 21
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 6 8 10 24 21
University of Calcutta, Calcutta 6 8 10 24 21
K. D. Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration, ONGC, Dehra Dun 10 9 3 22 24
Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta 3 7 11 21 25
Karnatak University, Dharwad 15 3 3 21 25
Central Mining Research Institute, Dhanbad 3 12 5 20 27
Others 428 293 411 1132  
Total 1501 747 879 3127  

Journal-wise Distribution of Publications

Indian earth scientists have placed their publications in about 400 journals, conference proceedings, books etc. Table 9 shows the top 28 journals which have published 10 or more Indian articles in the three years. It may be noted that Indian scientists placed more than 50% of their articles in these journals.

Table 9: Journal-wise Distribution of Articles

 

1990

 1994 1998 Total
Records of the Geological Survey of India 367 14 0 381
Journal of the Geological Society of India 106 118 147 371
Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science 30 35 66 131
Indian Mineralogist 0 0 113 113
Indian Minerals 36 20 32 88
Special Publication Series, Geological Survey of India 36 0 25 61
Journal of Nepal Geological Society Special issue 0 55 0 55
Indian Journal of Geology 14 20 16 50
Palaeobotanist 12 25 11 48
Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India 20 10 11 41
Indian Geotechnical Journal 11 19 11 41

Geoscience Journal

 13 16 11 40
Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences: Earth and Planetary Sciences 22 9 8 39
Memoirs, Geological Society of India 25 0 8 33
Indian Journal of Marine Sciences 15 3 13 31
Journal of African Earth Sciences A 0 0 29 29
Photonirvachak (Dehra Dun) 10 5 10 25
Marine Geology 10 9 2 21
Indian Journal of Petroleum Geology 0 13 7 20
Geophytology 15 5 0 20
Bulletin of the Indian Society of Earthquake Technology 17 1 0 18
Developments in Precambrian Geology 16 0 0 16
Exploration and Research for Atomic Minerals 16 0 0 16
Journal of Himalayan Geology 0 14 0 14
Abstracts, Geological Society of Australia 11 0 1 12
Bulletin of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission 11 0 0 11
Meteoritics and Planetary Science 0 0 10 10
Gerlands Beitraege nilur Geophysik 10 0 0 10
Others 678 356 348  
Total 1501 747 879  

It is clear from Table 9 that the coverage of the journals by the Georef database has not at all been uniform. Of these 28 journals, in 1998 three journals i.e. Indian Mineralogist, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Meteoritics and Planetary Science have been added to the database and as many as nine journals, i.e. Records of the Geological Survey of India, Bulletin of the Indian Society of Earthquake Technology, Developments in Precambrian Geology, Exploration and Research for Atomic Minerals, Bulletin of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Gerlands Beitraege nilur Geophysik, Journal of Nepal Geological Society Special issue, Journal of Himalayan Geology, and Geophytology have been excluded from the database. From this data the amount of reduction in the database coverage can be easily gauged. The decline in productivity in 1994 and 1998 as seen in the tables is because of this very factor. The decline is not real.

FINDINGS

  • There were 1501 records from India in GeoRef database in 1990, 747 records in 1994, and 897 records in 1998.
  • India ranks 10th in the world based on the publication count during 1990 and 11th in 1994 and 1998 respectively. USA tops the list followed by Canada in 1990 and 1994. However, UK takes the 2nd position in 1998. Almost all the countries recorded a decline in the number of publications produced during 1994 and 1998 in comparison with 1990. The decline is due to the substantial reduction in coverage by the database.
  • Majority of the articles were published in English followed by Russian, Chinese, French and German. However, during 1994 Chinese occupied the second position and in 1998 Russian regained the second position.
  • More than 75% of the Indian publications were published in India and the rest in countries like Netherlands, USA, UK and Germany.
  • All the publications of Indian scientists are in English except a few articles, of which four are in Russian, two in Hindi, and one each in Japanese and French.
  • All the publications are found to be analytic in nature. Igneous and metamorphic petrology is found to be the major area of research followed by applied geophysics, economic geology, stratigraphy, structural geology, engineering geology in 1990. In 1992 engineering geology occupies the first position and in 1994 applied geophysics.
  • More than 50% of the Indian earth science literature was published in journals and the rest in conference documents, books, etc. Some of the publications were in the form of abstracts, reports, and maps.
  • In city-wise distribution of publications, Calcutta tops the list in 1990 followed by Dehra Dun and Hyderabad . Dehra Dun tops the list in 1994 followed by Lucknow and New Delhi. Hyderabad tops the list in 1998 followed by Calcutta and Bangalore
  • In state-wise distribution, West Bengal tops the list in 1990, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In 1994 Uttar Pradesh tops the list followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh tops the list again in 1998 followed by Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
  • Geological Survey of India has contributed almost in all areas of geology. The other institutions which have also contributed in large number of areas are Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Geophysical Research Institute, Oil and Natural Gas Commission, National Institute of Oceanography, etc. Amongst universities, Banaras Hindu University, Andhra University, Jadavpur University, University of Roorkee, M S University of Baroda, etc, also made significant contributions. Colleges also made small contributions.
  • Indian earth scientists have mostly chosen Indian sources for placing their publications. For example, of the top ten sources, where Indian scientists placed their publications, nine are from India.

* Summarized by B K Sen basinf the original report titled "Earth Sciences Research in India: a study based on Georef" by J R Sahu, D B Ramesh, D P Sandha, B K Dalai, M K Seth and B B Sahoo, Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar. The study has been financed by NISSAT under its National Mapping of Science Project.

Information Today & Tomorrow, Vol. 21, No. 1, March 2002, p.3-p.12
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