Mapping of Indian Science and Technology output in a National and Global Context, 1997-2007.

Gupta, B.M.

Introduction

Science and technology pursuit has been a major planning objective of the country, identified on purpose to initiate, advance and accelerate national development in all sectors of economy. Consequent upon this policy initiative, India has been able to usher significant growth in its capacity and capability in basic, applied, and developmental research in science and technology. The investments in S&T have also grown many-fold, from Rs.760.5 crore in 1980 to about Rs.16,361 crore in 2005-06. The total annual expenditure on science and technology is now close to 0.8% of the Gross National Product (GNP). If the government's vision at present is to be believed, the size of the education sector will grow almost 10-fold during the current XI Five-Year Plan. Given these projections in the higher education sector in the country, S&T infrastructure in India is certain to witness significant expansion too in the near future.

Several bibliometric studies have so far attempted to look at indicators as required for understanding the status of science and technology in India (1-7). They had focused on developing indicators on institutional productivity, national productivity, scattering of research across Indian & foreign journals, quality of research, and nature of collaboration, etc. Another important study (8) by the authors to this paper, conducted recently under the sponsorship of the Office of the Principle Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, had reported several important indicators to understand the progress in Indian science and technology, covering the period 1985-1986, 1995-2006 and 2001-2002. The present study in particular analyses the role and contribution of Indian science in global context. It also compares the similarity of Indian research profile with other top productive countries and particularly with China, South Korea and Brazil.

Objectives

The main objective of this study is to produce current Indian S&T indicators by measuring progress of research in India using publications output data. In this regard the study aims at: (i) analyzing India's current publications rate and its global publications share in comparison with select leading countries, (ii) comparing and understanding similarities between India's national research profile and of select leading productive countries; (iii) determining most productive and weak subject areas of research in Indian science and technology; (iv) the share of Indian science in global output in overall as well as across various subjects; and (v) comparing Indian science with China, South Korea and Brazil S&T.

Methodology and Data Source

This study uses Scopus database for drawing publications data on India and select countries leading in science and technology. Scopus is an international multidisciplinary database indexing over 15,000 international peer reviewed journals in science and technology, besides more than 500 international conference/seminar proceedings. So far Scopus is the single largest international multidisciplinary database in the world. Given its wider coverage of journals and conference/seminar proceedings from developed and developing countries (including from India and China) compared to another international multidisciplinary database such as Web of Science database, the use of Scopus is expected to generate a better picture of Indian S&T indicators and hence its selection for this study.

The study uses 11 years publications data from 1997 to 2007 on India and other top 19 productive countries for developing S&T indicators. The study has purposely used larger data set covering 11 publication years in order to ensure that the study reflects a more accurate and reliable results as possible. In addition, it used citations data for measuring quality and visibility of Indian research output. Three years citations window has been used for computing average citations per paper for all S&T papers published by India from 1997 to 2004. But for papers published in 2005 we had to two years citations window and one-year citations window for papers published in 2006. The study has used a number of absolute publications, citation and collaborative measures for developing S&T indicators as needed for depicting India's status in science and technology from 1997 to 2007.

Analysis

India's Publication Share and Rank in World

India ranks 12th among the top 20 productive countries in science and technology, with its global publications share of 2.11% as computed from cumulative world publications data for 1997-2007 (Table 1). The other countries in the top 20 list that contributed world share similar to that of India are Russia, Spain, and Australia (in the range 2.0% to 2.50%). In overall, the global publication shares of the top 20 productive countries in S&T from 1997-2007 ranged from 1.03% to 23.44%. The United States tops the list with its global publication share of 23.44%, and followed far behind are United Kingdom, Japan, China, Germany, and France (their global publication share ranging 4.5% to 7.4%). The countries that rank between 13th and 20th positions are Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil, Poland and Belgium with their global publication share ranging 1% to 1.9% (Table 1).

Declining Global Publication Share of Developed Countries: The publications activity of most developed countries is gradually declining over time in global context. This is evident from declining trend in their global publications share figures for 1997, 2002 and 2007. In particular, the developed countries that have shown decline in their global publication share are many, including United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Russia, Netherlands and Sweden. The countries from the developed world that have however, shown rise in their global publication share over time are relatively few, including Italy, Australia, Spain, Rising Global Publication Share of Developing Countries: All developing countries in top 20 productive countries list have shown rising trend in their global publications share over time. China, in particular, has shown strikingly significant rise in its publications share, rising from 2.76% to 4.71%, and to 11.21% in the years 1997, 2002, and 2007 respectively. Correspondingly China improved its world ranking from 8th position in 1997 to 5th in 2002 and to 2nd in 2007. South Korea has also improved its world share (from 1.05% to 1.49% and to 2.20%), Taiwan (from 1.02% to 1.10% and to 1.58%), and Brazil (from 0.91% to 1.20% and to 1.66%) during corresponding years. The world ranking of these three developing countries also improved--South Korea (from 16th to 14th and to 12th), Taiwan (from 17th to 19th and to 16th), and Brazil (from 20th to 17th and to 15th) during corresponding years.

India also witnessed rise in its world publications share. The shift in its global share was from 1.86% to 1.97% and to 2.55% in 1997, 2002, and 2007, respectively. Correspondingly, it improved its world ranking from 13th position in 1997 to 12th in 2002 and to 10th in 2007 (Table 1).

India's Publication Growth Rate in World Context

The developed and developing countries differ significantly in their annual average publication growth rate as seen from their annual publications output data for 1997 to 2007 in S&T. It was 2.23% to 6.54% for developed countries and 7.76% to 20.96% for developing world countries. Whereas the developed countries maintained slow pace of growth in their publications output, the developing countries on the other hand have shown significantly faster growth rate (Table 2-3).

India achieved annual average growth rate in publications output at 7.76% as seen from its publications output data for 1997-2007. China showed growth rate of 20.96% per annum, the highest amongst top 20 countries, followed by South Korea (12.49%), Brazil (10.97%), Taiwan (9.21%), and India (7.76%). Indian ranks last among the developing countries in terms of pace of growth in its publications output (Table 3).

All countries from the developing world (among top 20 productive countries) have shown growth rate of their annual publications output higher than the world average (4.41%). The countries from the developed world (among top 20 productive countries) that have shown growth rate higher than the world average (4.41%) during 1997-2007 include Spain (6.54%), Australia (6.39%), Poland (5.93%), Belgium (5.15%), Canada (4.73%), Italy (4.64%) and Switzerland (4.56%) (Table 3).

Growth rate of publications output by developing world countries has also changed over time. Based on publications output data for 1997-2002 and 2003-2007, it was found that Chine improved its growth rate from 15.37% to 26.54%, India from 4.31% to 11.21%, Taiwan from 4.70% to 13.71%, South Korea from 10.56% to 14.42% and Brazil from 9.05% to 12.90%. The productive developed world countries have also shown similar trend (Table 3).

Subject Priorities of Top 20 Productive Countries as reflected in their Cumulative Publication Output during 1997-2007

Subject priorities of top 20 productive countries in research have been determined by computing their national publications share in broad disciplines including physical, engineering, life, and health sciences as defined by Scopus based on their publications output for 1997-2007. The strength of national publication share of a country in a discipline reflects its research priority in the subject comparison to other disciplines. The higher the productivity the higher priority of the country in the discipline (Table 4-5).

For example, India's national publications share has been the highest (41.07%) in physical sciences, followed by life sciences (29.68%), engineering sciences (29.59%), and health sciences (22.06%). Given this data, one can conclude India's order of priority in research by discipline. Its priority is the highest to physical sciences, followed by life sciences, engineering sciences, and health sciences. In the world context, India's national publications share in physical sciences, life sciences, and engineering sciences each has been above the global average in each discipline. But in health sciences its share has been below the global average (Table 4-5).

For clarification it may be stated that according to Scopus classification physical sciences discipline includes subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, earth & planetary sciences and environmental sciences. Similarly, life sciences include subjects such as agricultural & biological sciences, biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, immunology & microbiology and neurology. Engineering sciences includes subjects such as engineering, materials science, computer science, chemical engineering and energy. Health sciences include subjects such as medicine, public health, nursing, dentistry and veterinary science.

Similarities in the research profile of India with other 19 productive countries were determined based on similarities in their global publication share by subject. In this regard, based on strength of their national publications share in the subject as compared to the world average, 20 countries were first categorized into four major groups. The following criteria were used to categorize them as strong, moderately strong, moderately week and weak countries in different broad disciplines.

(i) Strong--Countries having national publication share in the broad subject above the world average by 5% or more;

(ii) Moderately Strong--Countries having national publication share in the broad subject above the world average by 0.1% to 4.99%;

(iii) Moderately Weak--Countries having national publication share in the broad subject below the world average by 0.1% to 4.99%;

(iv) Weak--Countries having national publication share in the broad subject below the world average by 5% or more.

Eleven countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Brazil share strong to moderately strong similarities in life sciences and health sciences, but they are weak in engineering sciences. Table 6 shows similarities in their research profiles by subject (Table 6).

Four countries such as Japan, Germany, France and Poland share strong to moderately strong similarities in life sciences and physical sciences, but they are weak in engineering sciences. Table 7 shows similarities in their research profiles by subject (Table 7).

Five countries such as Russia, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan share strong to moderately strong similarities in physical sciences and engineering sciences, but they are weak in health sciences. Table 8 shows similarities in their research profiles by subject (Table 8).

Subject Profile of India in Science and Technology

As per publications output data for 1997-2007, India's research profile by broad disciplines emerges as follows. Physical science subjects together contributed the highest publication share (41.07%), followed by life sciences (29.68%), engineering sciences (29.59%), and health sciences (22.06%) in cumulative national publication output of India during 1997-07 (Table 9).

India's subject profile is quite different from that of China, South Korea, and Brazil. For example, compared to India, China and South Korea each contributed the highest publication share (51.60% and 50.18 %) in engineering, followed by 38.97 % and 38.75 % in physical sciences, 15.12% and 23.33% in life sciences , and 11.25% and 14.81% in health sciences during similar period. In contrast, Brazil emphasis equally (33.80%, 33.06% and 31.71%) in life sciences, physical sciences and health sciences and 22.48% in engineering sciences (Table 9).

High Productivity Subject Areas of Research in India

Medicine, chemistry, physics, agricultural & biological sciences, engineering, biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology and materials science are considered the high priority areas of India in S&T, each contributing publication share between 12.0% and 19.15% in the cumulative national publication output of the country during 1997-2007. Among these subjects, medicine registered the largest increase by 3.68% (from 16.57% to 20.25%), followed by 2.63% (from 12.77% to 14.31%) in biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, 1.03% (from 12.75% to 13.78%) in engineering and 0.93% (from 11.51% to 12.44%) in materials science from 1997-99 to 2005-07. In contrast, its national publication share declined by 2.37% (from 14.55% to 12.18%) in agricultural & biological sciences and 0.87% (from 15.10% to 14.23%) in physics during the same period (Table 10).

Comparative Publications Share of Developing Countries: In comparison to India, China contributed larger share in engineering, physics and materials science (29.86%, 15.71% and 14.63%) and so also South Korea (25.41%, 19.06% and 16.58%). India's national publications share in these subjects were (13.12%, 14.22% and 12.0%) and Brazil (10.02%, 14.98% and 7.19%) in its cumulative national publication output during 1997-07 (Table 11). In contrast, comparatively larger publication share was devoted to medicine, chemistry and agricultural & biological sciences by Brazil (27.26%, 9.07% and 15.31%) and India (19.15%, 15.96% and 13.33%) compared to China (11.05%, 10.98% and 4.69%) and South Korea (13.83%, 10.95% and 4.57%) in cumulative national publication output during 1997-07. Larger national publication share in biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology was devoted by South Korea (15.91%) and Brazil (13.92%) as against India (12.77%) and China (8.74%) during 1997-07 (Table 11).

Share of International Collaborative Publications by Subject: The share of international collaborative publications in cumulative national subject publication output in India in most productive subject areas during 1997-07 was highest in physics (27.84%), followed by biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology (19.51%), materials science (17.29%), engineering (14.38%), chemistry (13.75%), agricultural & biological sciences (11.87%) and medicine (11.14%). India witnessed increase in its share of international collaborative publications by 5.30% (from 13.59% to 18.89%) in its publications output in materials science from 1997-99 to 2005-07, followed by 4.31% (from 8.97% to 13.28%) in medicine, 3.44% (from 10.46% to 13.90%) in agricultural & biological sciences, 2.28% (from 13.09% to 15.23%) in biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, 2.14% (from 13.09% to 15.23%) in chemistry, 1.40% (from 27.28% to 28.68%) in physics and 1.12% (from 16.21% to 17.33%) in engineering (Table 12).

Comparative Global Publications Share by Subject: The global publication share of India, China, Brazil, and South Korea in most productive subject areas during 1997-2007 was differing. It was 4.57% in chemistry in India, compared to 9.67% by China, 1.56% by Brazil and 2.49% by South Korea. In agricultural & biological sciences, it was 4.05% by India compared to 4.38% by China, 2.80% by Brazil and 1.10% by South Korea. In materials science, it was 3.41% by India compared to 12.80% by China, 1.23% by Brazil and 3.75% by South Korea. In physics, it was 2.73% by India compared to 9.28% by China, 1.73% by Brazil and 2.91% by South Korea. In biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, it was 2.11% by India compared to 4.43% by China, 1.38% by Brazil and 2.09% by South Korea. In engineering, it was 1.69% by India compared to 11.86% by China, 0.78% by Brazil and 2.61% by South Korea. In medicine, it was 1.48% by India compared to 2.62% by China, 1.26% by Brazil and 0.85% by South Korea (Table 13).

India's global publication share has increased by 1.89% (from 3.73% to 5.62%) in chemistry, followed by 1.24% (from 1.62% to 2.86%) in biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, 1.17% (from 3.10% to 4.27%) in materials science, 0.78% (from 3.60% to 4.38%) in agricultural & biological sciences, 0.71% (from 2.61% to 3.32%) in physics, 0.75% (from 1.01% to 1.76%) in medicine and 0.32% (from 1.71% to 2.03%) in engineering from the year 1997 to the year 2007 (Table 13).

Medium Productivity Subject Areas of Research in India

Earth & planetary sciences, environmental sciences, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, chemical engineering, mathematics, immunology & microbiology, veterinary sciences and computer science are the medium productive subjective areas of Indian research, each contributing between 2.65% to 6.36% share in the cumulative publication output by India during 1997-2007. The national publication share of India witnessed increase in some of these subjects from 1997-99 to 2005-07: 1.34% (from 3.09% to 4.43%) in computer science, 0.72% (from 3.42% to 4.14%) in immunology & microbiology, 0.53% (from 6.11% to 6.64%) in pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, 0.50% (from 5.93% to 6.43%) in environmental science and 0.23% (from 5.87% to 6.10%) in chemical engineering. The decline in the national publications share was witnessed by 1.33% (from 5.71% to 4.38%) in earth & planetary sciences, 1.0% in veterinary science and 0.15% (from 4.37% to 4.22%) in mathematics from 1997-99 to 2005-07 (Table 14).

Share of International Collaborative Publications by Subject: The share of international collaborative publications in India's cumulative publication output in medium productive subjective areas during 1997-07 was highest in mathematics (27.66%), followed by computer science (23.7%), earth & planetary science (22.24%), immunology & microbiology (19.36%), chemical engineering (13.73%), environmental sciences (10.8%), pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics (9.10%) and veterinary science (4.0%). India has witnessed significant rise in international collaborative research output over time (1997-99 to 2005-07) by 6.05% (from 18.97% to 25.02%) in earth & planetary sciences, 3.29% (from 9.84% to 13.14%) in environmental sciences, 2.98% (from 11.90% to 14.88%) in chemical engineering, 2.68% (from 25.86% to 28.18%) in pharmaceutics, toxicology & pharmaceutics, 2.51% (from 25.86% to 28.18%) in mathematics, as against decrease by 10.1% (from 31.07% to 20.96%) in computer science and 0.26% (from 20.04% to 19.77%) in immunology & microbiology (Table 16).

Comparative Global Publications Share by Subject: India's global publication share in medium productive subject areas of research during 1997-07 was: (i) 5.36% in India, compared to 0.86% in China, 3.17% in Brazil, and 0.81% in South Korea in veterinary science; (ii) 3.39% in India, compared to 4.50% in China, 1.47% in Brazil, and 1.88% in South Korea in pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics; (iii) 3.32% in India, compared to 5.12% in China, 1.27% in Brazil, and 1.08% in South Korea in environmental sciences; (iv) 2.77% in India, compared to 9.55% in China, 1.13% in Brazil, and 2.69% in South Korea in chemical engineering; (v) 2.31% in India, compared to 9.57% in China, 1.92% in Brazil, and 2.93% in South Korea in mathematics; (vi) 2.27% in India, compared to 9.11% in China, 1.18% in Brazil and 0.85% in South Korea in earth & planetary sciences; (vii) 2.22% in India, compared to 2.25% in China, 2.25% in Brazil and 2.08% in South Korea in immunology & microbiology; and (viii) 1.49% in India, compared to 10.31% in China and 0.99% in Brazil and 3.45% in South Korea in computer science (Table 17).

India's global publication share has increased by 2.47% (from 2.62% to 5.09%) in pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, 1.74% (from 1.55% to 3.29%) in immunology & microbiology, 1.25% (from 2.67% to 3.92%) in environmental science, 0.75% (from 3.23% to 3.98%) in chemical engineering, and 0.24% (from 1.66% to 1.90%) in computer science, and against decreased by 0.13% (from 5.41% to 5.28%) in veterinary science from the year 1997 to 2007 (Table 17).

Comparative Publications Share of Developing Countries: India accounts for highest publication share (6.37%, 6.25% and 2.65%) among select four developing countries in environmental sciences, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics and veterinary sciences. In contrast, earth & planetary sciences and immunology & microbiology account for second highest, chemical engineering the third highest, and other subjects namely mathematics and computer science the lowest publication share among the four developing countries during 1997-07. China accounts for highest national publication share(6.30%) only in earth & planetary sciences, second highest (6.55% and 7.87%) in computer science and chemical engineering, third highest (3.19% and 5.70%) in environmental sciences and mathematics, and lowest (2.69%, 1.26% and 0.14%) in pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, immunology& microbiology, and veterinary sciences during 1997-07 among the select four Asian countries.

In comparison, Brazil devoted highest national publication share to immunology & microbiology (6.48%), second highest (4.05%, 4.50%, 5.86% and 2.61%) to environmental sciences, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, mathematics and veterinary sciences, third highest (4.17% and 3.86%) to earth & planetary sciences and computer science, and lowest to(3.98%) to chemical engineering during 1997-07 among the select four developing countries. South Korea accounts for highest national publication share (7.14%, 6.75% and 10.17%) in chemical engineering, mathematics and computer science, second highest (4.51%) to immunology & microbiology, third highest (4.35% and 0.50%) in pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, and veterinary sciences, and lowest (2.28% and 2.61%) in earth & planetary sciences and environmental sciences during 1997-07 among select four Asian countries (Table 15).

Low Productivity Subject Areas of Research in India

Energy and neurology are the two low productive subject areas contributing publications share between 1.33% and 1.84% in cumulative publication output by India during 1997-07. The national publication share in India witnessed an increase by 0.15% (from 1.20% to 1.35%) in neurology and decrease by 0.22% (from 2.09% to 1.87%) in energy from 1997-99 to 2005-07 (Table 18).

Comparative Publications Share of Developing Countries: Neurology has contributed large share in Brazil (3.73%) and South Korea (1.87%) compared to India (1.33%) and China (0.72%) during 1997-07. In contrast, energy contributed larger share in South Korea (1.88%) and China (3.29%), compared to India (1.84%) and Brazil (1.39%) during 1997-07 (Table 19).

Share of International Collaborative Publications by Subject: The share of international collaborative publications in India's cumulative national publications output in these low productive subject areas during 1997-07 was 16.34% in neurology and 16.27% in energy. India has witnessed a significant rise in international collaborative publications of 6.29% (from 12.98% to 19.27%) in neurology as against decrease of 1.08% (from 15.88% to 14.79%) in energy from 1997-99 to 2005-07 (Table 20).

Comparative Global Publications Share by Subject: India's global publication share in these two subject areas are : (i) 0.91% in India compared to 13.91% in China, 13.99% in Brazil and 9.30% in South Korea in neurology and (ii) 2.02% in India, compared to 11.1% in China, 0.92% in Brazil and 1.64% in South Korea in energy. India's global publication share has increased by 0.92% (from 0.61% to 1.53%) in neurology and decreased by 0.34% (from 2.92% to 2.58%) in energy from the year 1997 to 2007 (Table 21).

Least Productive Subject Areas in India

Public health nursing and dentistry are the least productive Indian subject area contributing each less than 1% publication share in cumulative publication output during 1997-07. India's publication share has increased by 0.35% (from 0.21% to 0.56%) in dentistry, 0.23% (from 0.40% to 0.63) in public health and by 0.20%(from 0.09% to 0.29%) in nursing from 1997-99 to 2005-07 (Table 22).

Comparative Publications Share of Developing Countries: Nursing and public health contributed comparative largest share in South Korea (1.05% and 2.02%) and India (0.30% and 73%) as against china (0.55% and 0.65%) and Brazil (0.44% and 0.56%) during 1997-07. In contrast, dentistry find largest share in Brazil (5.19%) and India (1.36%) compared to South Korea (1.06%) and China (0.92%) during 1997-07 (Table 23).

Share of International Collaborative Publications by Subject: The share of international collaborative publications in India's cumulative national publication output in three least productive subject areas during 1997-07 was highest in nursing (25.04%), followed by public health (16.67%) and dentistry (6.54%). The India's international collaborative publications share has increased by 5.53% (from 13.69% to 19.22%) in public health and by 2.98% (from 23.73% to 26.70%) in nursing, as against decrease by 6.96% (from 12.50% to 5.54%) in dentistry from 1997-99 to 2005-07 (Table 24).

Comparative Global Publications Share by Subject: India's global publication share in least productive subject areas of research during 1997-07 was: (i) 0.73% in India, compared to 0.65% in China, 0.56% in Brazil, and 1.42% in South Korea in public health; (ii) 1.36% in India, compared to 0.92% in China, 5.19% in Brazil and 1.06% in South Korea in dentistry and (iii) 0.30% in India, compared to 0.55% in China, 0.44% in Brazil and o.38% in South Korea in nursing (Table 25).

Conclusion

Based on analysis of publications output data for India for 1997-07 it is seen that India's scientific activity is on the rise; it is growing at an average rate of 7.76% per annum. However, despite the significant rise in its average growth rate, India's global share for 1997-07 is still very small (2.11%) compared to leading world economies especially China. China's global share to S&T has shown significant rise from 2.76% in 1997 to 11.51% in 2007 with its average share of 6.50% for 1997-07.

India ranked at 12th position among the top 20 productive countries in the world in science and technology, as seen from world publications output data for 1997-07. India's world share for 1997-07 was 2.11%. The other countries in the top 20 list that contributed world publications share similar to that of India (in the range 2.0% to 2.50%) are Russia, Spain, and Australia. The United States continues to top the list of 20 productive world countries with its global publication share of 23.44% for 1997-07. China ranked at 5th position. The top countries like United Kingdom, Japan, China, Germany, and France contributed world share in the range 4.5% to 7.5%.

The developed and developing countries differ significantly in their annual average publication growth rates in science and technology. Whereas the developed world countries have shown their growth rate averaging between 0% and 5%, the developing countries on the contrary have shown growth comparatively at higher rates, in the range 5% to 20%.

India has shown close similarity in S&T research with countries like Russia, China, South Korea and Taiwan, which have shown, like India, strong emphasis in physical and engineering sciences, but are weak in health sciences.

Physical science is the top priority area of S&T research in India, followed by life sciences, engineering sciences and health sciences. Compared to world average output figures by subject, India's national publications share in physical sciences, life sciences, and engineering sciences each has been above the global average. But in health sciences its share has been below the global average in the discipline. This demonstrates India's strength and weakness in different disciplines. The policy makers in science and technology needs to ponder over and decide for the future the R&D priorities that India needs to pursue to lead India as a knowledge economy by 2020

Medicine, chemistry, physics, agricultural & biological sciences, engineering, biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology and the materials science are the leading most productive subject areas of research in India. India's national publications share in these subject areas was between 12.00% and 19.15% of the cumulative publication output by country during 1997-07. Earth & planetary sciences, environmental science, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, chemical engineering, mathematics, immunology & microbiology, vet science and computer science are the nine medium productive subject areas of research, each contributing between 3.14% to 6.30% share to the cumulative publication output by India during 1997-07. Energy and neurology are the two low productivity subject areas of India contributing share between 1.33% and 1.84% in cumulative publication output during 1997-07.

India's national publications share from 1997-99 to 2005-07 has increased in 14 out of 20 S&T subjects. The largest increase of 3.68% (from 16.57% to 20.25%) in national publication share from 1997-99 to 2005-07 has been observed in medicine, followed by biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology, computer science and engineering (from 1.03% to 2.63%), materials science, immunology & microbiology, pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics, environmental science, chemical engineering, public health, nursing and neurology (from 0.15% to 0.93%). In contrast, the largest decrease of 2.37% in national publication share from 1975-99 to 2005-07 was observed in agricultural & biological sciences, followed by earth & planetary sciences and veterinary science, physics, energy and mathematics (from 0.15% to 0.87%).

In terms of global publication share in 20 broad subject areas during 1997-2007, the largest share (5.36%) is accounted by veterinary science, followed by chemistry (4.57%), agricultural & biological sciences (4.05%), materials science (3.41%), pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics (3.39%), chemical engineering (2.77%), environmental science (3.32%), physics (2.73%), mathematics (2.31%), earth & planetary sciences (2.27%), physics (9.28%), immunology & microbiology (2.22%), biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology (2.11%), energy (2.02%), engineering (1.69%), computer science (1.49%), medicine (1.48%), dentistry (1.36%), neurology (0.91%), public health (0.73%) and nursing (0.30%).

India has improved its global publication share in 16 broad subjects out of 20 from the year 1997 to the year 2007, but the largest increase (1.89%) is achieved by chemistry, followed by dentistry, immunology & microbiology, environmental science, biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology and materials science (from 1.17% to 1.84%), neurology, agricultural & biological sciences, chemical engineering, medicine, physics, and public health (from 0.50% to 0.99%), engineering, nursing, computer science and earth & planetary sciences (from 0. 05. to 0.42%) . In contrast, the largest decrease in India's global publication share (1.19%) from the year 1997 to the year 2007 was observed by pharmacology, toxicology & immunology, followed by 0.49% in mathematics, 0.34% in energy and 0.13% in veterinary science.

Among the S&T fields, the largest share (28%) of international collaborative papers during 1997-2007 was in mathematics, followed by physics (27.5%), computer science (25.77%), nursing (23.15%), earth & planetary sciences (21.37%0, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (19.12%), immunology & microbiology (18.88%), materials science (17.04%), energy (16.1%), neurology (15.93%), public health (15.46%), and engineering (14.40%). The largest increase (6.29%) in international collaborative share from 1997-99 to 2005-07 has taken place in neurology, followed by earth & planetary sciences (6.05%), public health (5.53%), materials science (5.30%), medicine (4.31%), agricultural & biological sciences (3.44%), environmental science (3.29%), nursing (2.98%), chemical engineering (2.98%), pharmacology, toxicology & pharmaceutics (2.68%), veterinary science (2.51%), mathematics (2.31%), biochemistry, genetics & molecular biology (2.28%), chemistry (2.14%), etc. On other hand, the largest decrease (10.10%) in international collaborative papers share from 1997-99 to 2005-07 has taken place in computer science, followed by dentistry (6.96%), energy (1.08%), and immunology & microbiology (0.26%).

It is concluded that compared to other countries like China, South Korea and Brazil, India has to substantially improve its publication output and quality. For this, investment in R&D has to be substantially increased and quality of R& D manpower improved. For improving the quality, international collaboration, which is very low compared to other similarly placed countries, has to be substantially enhanced. The quality of courses has been improved and ongoing teachers training courses has been designed in such a way so that they can stay in touch with latest developments in the field.

References

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(2.) Arunachalam, S.; Srinivasan, S. and Raman, V. Science in India: A profile based on India's publications as covered by Science Citation Index, 1989-1992. Current Science 10 March 1998, 74(5), 433-441

(3.) Basu, Aparna and Nagpaul, P.S. National Mapping of Science. New Delhi; NISTADS. 1998. (Report 248/98)

(4.) Garfield, Eugene. Mapping science in the Third World. Part 1. Science & Public Policy June 1983, 10(3), 112-127.

(5.) Raghuram, N. and Madhavi, Y. India's declining ranking. Nature 1996, 383(6601), p.572

(6.) Arunachalam, S. Is science in India on decline? Current Science 2002, 83(2), 107-108

(7.) King, David. The scientific impact of nations. Nature 15 July 2004, 430, 311-316.

(8.) Gupta, B.M. and Dhawan, S.M. Measures of progress of science in India; An analysis of publications output in science and technology. New Delhi; Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, November 2006 (http://psa.gov.in).

B.M. Gupta

Emeritus Scientist

National Institute of Science, Technology, & Development Studies

Dr K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi--110012, India

Table 1. Productivity and World Publication Share of Top 20 Productive
Countries in Science & Technology

S.No   Country       National Publication Output

                     1997         2002         2007         97-07

1      USA           314,029      314,530      357,635      3,584,564
2      UK            124,776      93,234       124,776      1,130,827
3      Japan         87,750       91,655       98,211       1,057,233
4      Germany       75,296       80,514       97,200       958,647
5      China         31,236       62,256       194,241      993,717
6      France        56,310       57,162       71,984       691,720
7      Canada        40,236       41,799       62,859       525,931
8      Italy         38,128       41,875       59,520       510,298
9      Spain         25,049       30,409       46,808       372,277
10     Russia        31,040       32,431       30,660       355,564
11     Australia     23,059       27,410       42,558       337,376
12     India         21,058       25,990       44,135       322,956
13     Netherlands   22,094       23,616       33,299       291134
14     South Korea   11,933       19,651       38,067       257,034
15     Sweden        17,360       17,173       22,315       212529
16     Switzerland   15,507       16,034       23,704       207,737
17     Taiwan        11,575       14,539       27,410       192,106
18     Brazil        10,289       15,804       28,819       194,024
19     Poland        11,328       15,037       19,686       177,288
20     Belgium       11,343       12,659       18,486       157,930

S.No   Country       Percentage Share Of
                     National Publication
                     Output in their total
                     output

                     1997         2002         2007         97-07

1      USA           27.72        23.79        20.65        23.44
2      UK            11.01        7.05         7.20         7.40
3      Japan         7.74         6.93         5.67         6.91
4      Germany       6.65         6.09         5.61         6.27
5      China         2.76         4.71         11.21        6.50
6      France        4.97         4.32         4.16         4.52
7      Canada        3.55         3.16         3.63         3.44
8      Italy         3.37         3.17         3.44         3.34
9      Spain         2.21         2.30         2.70         2.43
10     Russia        2.74         2.45         1.77         2.33
11     Australia     2.04         2.07         2.46         2.21
12     India         1.86         1.97         2.55         2.11
13     Netherlands   1.95         1.79         1.92         1.90
14     South Korea   1.05         1.49         2.20         1.68
15     Sweden        1.53         1.30         1.29         1.39
16     Switzerland   1.37         1.21         1.37         1.36
17     Taiwan        1.02         1.10         1.58         1.26
18     Brazil        0.91         1.20         1.66         1.27
19     Poland        1.00         1.14         1.14         1.16
20     Belgium       1.00         0.96         1.07         1.03

S.No   Country       World Publication Rank

                     97           02           07           97-07

1      USA           1            1            1            1
2      UK            2            2            3            2
3      Japan         3            3            4            3
4      Germany       4            4            5            5
5      China         8            5            2            4
6      France        5            6            6            6
7      Canada        6            8            7            7
8      Italy         7            7            8            8
9      Spain         10           10           9            9
10     Russia        9            9            14           10
11     Australia     11           11           11           11
12     India         13           12           10           12
13     Netherlands   12           13           13           13
14     South Korea   16           14           12           14
15     Sweden        15           15           18           15
16     Switzerland   16           16           17           16
17     Taiwan        17           19           16           18
18     Brazil        20           17           15           17
19     Poland        19           18           19           19
20     Belgium       18           20           20           20

Table 2: Annual Publications Output in Science and Technology
of Select Countries

               Annual Publications Output, 1997-2007

Publication    World         USA           UK            Japan
Year

1997           1133009       314029        88926         87750
1998           1137270       312392        90710         88498
1999           1138939       309609        90751         91229
2000           1205466       313243        95364         92608
2001           1299195       309114        90499         90080
2002           1322231       314530        93234         91655
2003           1376155       334863        103655        98597
2004           1524777       318306        110274        102534
2005           1685487       343011        118390        108768
2006           1734750       357832        124248        107303
2007           1732168       357635        124776        98211

               Annual Publications Output, 1997-2007

Publication    Germany       China         France        Canada
Year

1997           75296         31236         56310         40236
1998           77970         36463         57326         39321
1999           79112         37632         58497         38978
2000           80655         45852         58526         39910
2001           80412         60936         56881         39072
2002           80514         62256         57162         41799
2003           90631         74896         63654         48641
2004           94479         111274        67060         53427
2005           101171        157893        71800         59653
2006           101207        181038        72520         62035
2007           97200         194241        71984         62859

               Annual Publications Output, 1997-2007

Publication    Italy         Russia        Spain         Australia
Year

1997           38128         31040         25049         23059
1998           37525         32275         25769         23915
1999           38540         30983         27257         24317
2000           39721         31796         27540         25344
2001           40629         32565         28253         26425
2002           41875         32431         30409         27410
2003           48304         32987         35055         30999
2004           51927         34090         37944         34631
2005           55407         35486         42206         37689
2006           58722         31261         45987         41129
2007           59520         30660         46808         42558

               Annual Publications Output, 1997-2007

Publication    Netherlands   South Korea   Sweden        Taiwan
Year

1997           22094         11933         17360         11575
1998           22506         12647         17818         11907
1999           22086         14665         17725         12216
2000           22859         16532         17643         12781
2001           22436         18557         17439         14103
2002           23616         19651         17173         14539
2003           27035         24777         19747         16720
2004           29244         29126         20829         20855
2005           32398         33767         22141         23902
2006           33561         37312         22339         26098
2007           33299         38067         22315         27410

               Annual Publications Output, 1997-2007

Publication    Brazil        Poland        Belgium       India
Year

1997           10289         11328         11343         21058
1998           11413         11588         12141         21698
1999           12391         12324         12161         22845
2000           13388         13062         12104         23284
2001           13698         13784         12094         24280
2002           15804         15037         12659         25990
2003           18099         17746         15022         29972
2004           20252         19416         16027         32311
2005           22499         21059         17726         36403
2006           27372         22258         18167         40980
2007           28819         19686         18486         44135

Table 3: Annual Average Publications Growth Rate of Select Developed
and Developing Countries

Country          Average Annual Publication Growth Rate

                 97-07         97-2002       2003-07

World            4.41          3.18          5.64
United States    1.37          0.04          2.71
UK               3.54          1.01          6.06
Japan            1.23          0.89          1.57
Germany          2.68          1.36          3.99
France           2.56          0.32          4.81
Italy            4.64          1.91          7.38
Netherlands      4.32          1.38          7.25
Spain            6.54          3.98          9.10
Switzerland      4.56          0.37          4.2
Australia        6.39          3.52          9.25

Country          Average Publication Growth Rate

                 97-07         97-02         2003-07

Sweden           2.65          -0.21         5.51
China            20.96         15.37         26.54
India            7.76          4.31          11.21
South Korea      12.49         10.56         14.42
Belgium          5.15          2.26          8.04
Brazil           10.97         9.05          12.9
Taiwan           9.21          4.70          13.71
Russia           -0.01         0.92          -0.94
Poland           5.93          5.85          6.01
Canada           4.73          0.82          8.64

Table 4: Subject Priorities of Top 20 Productive Countries as
reflected in their Cumulative Publications Output during 1997-2007

Country       Total      Percentage Share of Papers under
              Papers     the following Broad Fields

                         Physical   Engineering   Life       Health
                         Sciences   Sciences      Sciences   Sciences

World         15289447   27.90      29.10         23.87      29.58
USA           3584564    26.42      20.87         31.09      33.94
UK            1130827    26.12      19.34         31.94      36.67
Japan         1057233    33.72      31.94         28.37      26.77
Germany       958647     37.48      23.84         26.80      30.15
China         993717     38.97      51.60         15.12      11.25
France        691,720    37.56      24.47         28.21      29.28
Canada        525,931    29.02      23.97         29.86      29.69
Italy         510,298    34.37      21.91         28.74      34.70
Russia        355,564    63.57      35.11         17.30      3.65
Spain         372,277    36.21      21.36         31.14      32.10
Australia     337,376    27.97      18.90         31.67      34.17
India         322,947    41.07      29.59         29.68      22.06
Netherlands   291,134    28.06      19.78         30.85      37.62
South Korea   257,034    38.75      50.18         23.33      14.81
Sweden        212,529    29.50      21.48         33.12      34.57
Switzerland   207,737    35.10      19.92         29.41      32.75
Taiwan        192,106    33.52      46.99         18.29      22.47
Brazil        194,024    33.06      22.48         33.80      31.71
Poland        177,288    47.75      27.55         25.86      23.34
Belgium       157,930    31.38      22.09         30.57      35.17

Table 5: Broad Discipline wise Output of Top 20 Productive Countries
as reflected in their Cumulative Publications Output during 1997-2007

Country       Total      Count of Papers under the
              Papers     following Broad Fields

                         Physical   Engineering   Life       Health
                         Sciences   Sciences      Sciences   Sciences

World         15289447   4265794    4449992       3650321    4523136
USA           3584564    947174     748162        1114412    1216646
UK            1130827    295387     218693        361165     414707
Japan         1057233    356479     337640        299930     282999
Germany       958647     359270     228576        256896     289079
China         993717     387281     512773        150276     111822
France        691,720    259797     169293        195147     202527
Canada        525,931    152647     126049        157029     156137
Italy         510,298    175383     111813        146644     177075
Russia        355,564    226022     124855        61517      12992
Spain         372,277    134814     79518         115910     119485
Australia     337,376    94369      63767         106854     115274
India         322,947    132623     95555         95846      71254
Netherlands   291,134    81681      57578         89803      109515
South Korea   257,034    99594      128990        59970      38057
Sweden        212,529    62704      45654         70380      73474
Switzerland   207,737    72918      41386         61104      68029
Taiwan        192,106    64397      90280         35145      43172
Brazil        194,024    64153      43612         65572      61523
Poland        177,288    84649      48847         45853      41387
Belgium       157,930    49566      34893         48279      55548

Table 6: Countries Sharing Strong to Moderately Strong Research
Profile in Life Sciences and Health Sciences

Countries              Strong                 Moderately Strong

United States          Life Sciences          Health Sciences

Australia, Canada,     Life Sciences          Health Sciences,
Sweden & Belgium                              Physical Sciences

Netherlands            Life Sciences,         Physical Sciences
                       Health Sciences

United Kingdom         Life Sciences,
                       Health Sciences

Brazil, Switzerland    Life Sciences,         Health Sciences
                       Physical Sciences

Italy, Spain           Health Sciences,       Life Sciences
                       Physical Sciences

Countries              Moderately Weak        Weak

United States          Physical Science       Engineering Sciences

Australia, Canada,                            Engineering Sciences
Sweden & Belgium

Netherlands                                   Engineering Sciences

United Kingdom         Physical Science       Engineering Sciences

Brazil, Switzerland                           Engineering Sciences

Italy, Spain                                  Engineering Sciences

Table 7: Countries Sharing Strong to Moderately Strong Research
Profile in Physical Sciences and Life Sciences

Countries   Strong     Moderately        Moderate      Weak
                       Strong            Weak

Germany     Physical   Life Sciences,                  Engineering
            Sciences   Health Sciences                 Sciences

Japan       Physical   Life Sciences,    Health
            Sciences   Engineering       Sciences
                       Sciences

France      Physical   Life Sciences     Health
            Sciences                     Sciences,
                                         Engineering
                                         Sciences

Poland      Physical   Life Sciences     Engineering   Health
            Sciences                     Sciences      Sciences

Table 8: Countries Sharing Strong to Moderately Strong Research
Profile in Physical Sciences and Engineering Sciences

Countries    Strong         Moderately    Moderate    Weak
                            Strong        Weak

China,       Engineering.                             Life
Taiwan,      Sciences,                                Sciences
Russia       Physical                                 Health
             Sciences                                 Sciences

South        Engineering.                 Life        Health
Korea        Sciences,                    Sciences    Sciences
             Physical
             Sciences

India        Physical       Engineering               Health
             Sciences,      Sciences                  Sciences
             Life
             Sciences

Table 9: National Cumulative Publication Share of Select Developing
Countries by Broad Disciplines, 1997-2007

Country            Health     Life       Physical   Engineering
                   Sciences   Sciences   Sciences   Sciences

India (%)          22.06      29.68      41.07      29.59
China (%)          11.25      15.12      38.97      51.60
South Korea (%)    14.81      23.33      38.75      50.18
Brazil (%)         31.71      33.80      33.06      22.48

Table 10: Most Productive Subject Areas--National Publication
Statistics

Subject         Research Output

                1997-07       1997-99       2005-07

Medicine        61849         10868         24613

Chemistry       51558         10343         19151

Physics         45931         9904          17287

Agricultural    43044         9542          14796
& Biological
Sciences

Engineering     42376         8364          16741

Biochemistry    41249         7663          17395

Materials       38748         7551          15111
Science

Subject         Publication Share (%)

                1997-07       1997-99       2005-07       Difference

Medicine        19.15         16.57         20.25         3.68

Chemistry       15.96         15.77         15.76         -0.01

Physics         14.22         15.10         14.23         -0.87

Agricultural    13.33         14.55         12.18         -2.37
& Biological
Sciences

Engineering     13.12         12.75         13.78         1.03

Biochemistry    12.77         11.68         14.31         2.63

Materials       12            11.51         12.44         0.93
Science

Table 11: Select Developing Countries Share in National Output in
Most Productive Subject Categories

Subjects              Percentage Share of National Output, 1997-2007

                      India      China      Brazil     South Korea

Medicine              19.15      11.05      27.26      13.83

Chemistry             15.96      10.98      9.07       10.95

Physics               14.22      15.71      14.98      19.06

Agricultural          13.33      4.69       15.31      4.57
& Biological
Sciences

Engineering           13.12      29.86      10.02      25.41

Biochemistry,         12.77      8.74       13.92      15.91
Genetics &
Molecular Biology

Materials Sciences    12.00      14.63      7.19       16.58

Table 12: Most Productive Subject Areas-International Collaboration
Share

Subject          International Collaborative Research Output

                 1997-07      1997-99      2005-07

Medicine         6890         975          3268

Chemistry        7091         1354         2917

Physics          12789        2702         4958

Agricultural     5108         998          2057
& Biological
Sciences

Engineering      6092         1356         2901

Biochemistry,    8049         1546         3906
Genetics &
Molecular
Biology

Materials        6699         1026         2854
Sciences

Subject          International Collaborative Research Output (%)

                 1997-07      1997-99      2005-07      Difference

                                                        1997-99 to
                                                        2005-07

Medicine         11.14        8.97         13.28        4.31

Chemistry        13.75        13.09        15.23        2.14

Physics          27.84        27.28        28.68        1.40

Agricultural     11.87        10.46        13.90        3.44
& Biological
Sciences

Engineering      14.38        16.21        17.33        1.12

Biochemistry,    19.51        20.17        22.45        2.28
Genetics &
Molecular
Biology

Materials        17.29        13.59        18.89        5.30
Sciences

Table 13: Most Productive Subject Areas-Global Publication Share
of India, China and Brazil

Subject                India

                       1997       2007       1997-07

Medicine               1.01       1.76       1.48

Chemistry              3.73       5.62       4.57

Physics                2.61       3.32       2.73

Agricultural &         3.60       4.38       4.05
Biological Sciences

Engineering            1.71       2.03       1.69

Biochemistry,          1.62       2.86       2.11
Genetics &
Molecular Biology

Materials Sciences     3.10       4.27       3.41

Subject                China

                       1997       2007       1997-07

Medicine               0.72       4.39       2.62

Chemistry              5.22       14.55      9.67

Physics                5.17       16.16      9.28

Agricultural &         1.44       8.18       4.38
Biological Sciences

Engineering            5.18       22.57      11.86

Biochemistry,          1.57       9.33       4.43
Genetics &
Molecular Biology

Materials Sciences     7.09       21.42      12.80

Subject                Brazil

                       1997       2007       1997-07

Medicine               0.81       1.71       1.26

Chemistry              1.16       1.92       1.56

Physics                1.54       1.79       1.73

Agricultural &         1.95       3.76       2.80
Biological Sciences

Engineering            0.70       0.78       0.78

Biochemistry,          0.85       1.76       1.38
Genetics &
Molecular Biology

Materials Sciences     0.85       1.27       1.23

Subject                South Korea

                       1997       2007       1997-07

Medicine               0.42       1.28       0.85

Chemistry              1.75       3.17       2.49

Physics                1.76       3.64       2.91

Agricultural &         0.57       1.71       1.10
Biological Sciences

Engineering            1.99       2.88       2.61

Biochemistry,          1.15       2.76       2.09
Genetics &
Molecular Biology

Materials Sciences     2.55       5.51       3.75

Table 14: Medium Productivity Subject Areas--National Publication
Statistics

Subject                      Research Output

                             1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Earth & Planetary Science    15588       3748        5323
Environmental Science        20556       3891        7811
Pharmacology                 20177       4009        8067
Chemical Engineering         18869       3850        7415
Mathematics                  13683       2869        5132
Immunology & Microbiology    12048       2241        5027
Computer Science             11270       2028        5381
Veterinary Science           8558        2065        2615

Subject                      Publication Share (%)

                             1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Earth & Planetary Science    4.83        5.71        4.38
Environmental Science        6.36        5.93        6.43
Pharmacology                 6.25        6.11        6.64
Chemical Engineering         5.84        5.87        6.10
Mathematics                  4.24        4.37        4.22
Immunology & Microbiology    3.73        3.42        4.14
Computer Science             3.49        3.09        4.43
Veterinary Science           2.65        3.15        2.15

Table 15: Select Developing Countries Publication Share in National
Output in Medium Productive Subject Categories

Subjects                    Percentage Share of National Publication
                            Output, 1997-2007

                            India   China   Brazil   South
                                                     Korea

Earth & Planetary           4.83    6.30    4.17     2.28
Science

Environmental Science       6.37    3.19    4.05     2.61

Pharmacology, Toxicology    6.25    2.69    4.50     4.35
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering        5.84    6.55    3.98     7.14

Mathematics                 4.24    5.70    5.86     6.75

Immunology &                3.73    1.26    6.48     4.51
Microbiology

Computer Science            3.49    7.87    3.86     10.17

Veterinary Science          2.65    0.14    2.61     0.50

Table 16: Medium Productive Subject Areas-International
Collaboration statistics

Subject                     International Collaborative

                            Research Output

                            97-07     97-99     2005-07

Earth & Planetary Science   3466      711       1332

Environmental Science       2220      383       1026

Pharmacology, Toxicology    1836      304       828
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering        2590      458       1103

Mathematics                 3785      742       1446

Immunology &                2332      449       994
Microbiology

Computer Science            2671      630       1128

Veterinary Science          342       58        139

Subject                     International Collaborative

                            Research Output (%)

                            97-07     97-99     2005-07   Difference
                                                          97-99 to
                                                          05-07

Earth & Planetary Science   22.24     18.97     25.02     6.05

Environmental Science       10.80     9.84      13.14     3.29

Pharmacology, Toxicology    9.10      7.58      10.26     2.68
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering        13.73     11.90     14.88     2.98

Mathematics                 27.66     25.86     28.18     2.31

Immunology &                19.36     20.04     19.77     -0.26
Microbiology

Computer Science            23.70     31.07     20.96     -10.10

Veterinary Science          4.00      2.81      5.32      2.51

Table 17: Medium Productivity Subject Areas-Global Publication Share
of India, China and Brazil

Subject                      Global Publication Share (%)

                             India

                             1997      2007      1997-07

Earth & Planetary Science    2.42      2.47      2.27

Environmental Science        2.67      3.92      3.32

Pharmacology, Toxicology     2.62      5.09      3.39
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering         3.23      3.98      2.77

Mathematics                  2.67      2.18      2.31

Immunology & Microbiology    1.55      3.29      2.22

Computer Science             1.66      1.90      1.49

Veterinary Science           5.41      5.28      5.36

Subject                      Global Publication Share (%)

                             China

                             1997      2007      1997-07

Earth & Planetary Science    3.04      16.21     9.11

Environmental Science        1.94      9.69      5.12

Pharmacology, Toxicology     2.09      8.01      4.50
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering         5.33      19.20     9.55

Mathematics                  4.36      16.29     9.57

Immunology & Microbiology    0.77      5.31      2.25

Computer Science             2.56      18.29     10.31

Veterinary Science           0.37      2.18      0.86

Subject                      Global Publication Share (%)

                             Brazil

                             1997      2007      1997-07

Earth & Planetary Science    1.05      1.31      1.18

Environmental Science        0.87      1.73      1.27

Pharmacology, Toxicology     1.00      2.18      1.47
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering         1.02      1.47      1.13

Mathematics                  1.61      1.67      1.92

Immunology & Microbiology    1.44      3.01      2.25

Computer Science             0.76      1.03      0.99

Veterinary Science           2.61      4.25      3.17

Subject                      Global Publication Share (%)

                             South Korea

                             1997      2007      1997-07

Earth & Planetary Science    0.49      1.18      0.85

Environmental Science        0.59      1.41      1.08

Pharmacology, Toxicology     1.24      2.39      1.88
& Pharmaceutics

Chemical Engineering         1.83      3.96      2.69

Mathematics                  1.62      3.47      2.93

Immunology & Microbiology    1.19      2.95      2.08

Computer Science             2.54      3.57      3.45

Veterinary Science           0.31      1.93      0.81

Table 18: Low Productivity Subject Areas--National Publication
Statistics

Subject        Research Output

               1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Neurology      4285        786         1635
Energy         5938        1373        2278

Subject        Publication Share (%)

               1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Neurology      1.33        1.20        1.35
Energy         1.84        2.09        1.87

Table 19: Select Developing Countries Share in National Output in
Low Productive Subject Categories

Subjects     Percentage Share of National Output, 1997-2007

             India     China     Brazil    South
                                           Korea

Neurology    1.33      0.72      3.73      1.87
Energy       1.84      3.29      1.39      1.88

Table 20: Low Productive Subject Areas-International Collaboration
Statistics

Subject      International Collaborative
             Research Output

             1997-07      1997-99      2005-07

Neurology    700          102          315
Energy       966          218          337

Subject      International Collaborative
             Research Output (%)

             1997-07      1997-99      2005-07      Difference
                                                    97-99 to
                                                    05-07

Neurology    16.34        12.98        19.27        6.29
Energy       16.27        15.88        14.79        -1.08

Table 21: Medium Productivity Subject Areas-Global Publication Share
of India, China and Brazil

Subject      Global Publication Share (%)

             India

             1997         2007         1997-07

Neurology    0.61         1.53         0.91
Energy       2.92         2.58         2.02

Subject      Global Publication Share (%)

             China

             1997         2007         1997-07

Neurology    0.67         3.51         13.91
Energy       6.26         20.34        11.10

Subject      Global Publication Share (%)

             Brazil

             1997         2007         1997-07

Neurology    0.86         2.63         13.99
Energy       0.75         1.02         0.92

Subject      Global Publication Share (%)

             South Korea

             1997         2007         1997-07

Neurology    0.36         1.96         9.30
Energy       1.34         2.09         1.64

Table 22: Least Productivity Subject Areas--National Publication
Statistics

Subject          Research Output

                 1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Public Health    1752        263         765
Dentistry        1132        136         686
Nursing          607         59          352

Subject          Publication Share (%)

                 1997-07     1997-99     2005-07

Public Health    0.54        0.40        0.63
Dentistry        0.35        0.21        0.56
Nursing          0.19        0.09        0.29

Table 23: Select Developing Countries Share in National Output
in Least Productive Subject Categories

Subjects          Percentage Share of National Output, 1997-2007

                  India       China       Brazil      South
                                                      Korea

Public Health     0.54        0.16        0.70        1.33
Dentistry         0.35        0.08        2.23        0.34
Nursing           0.19        0.11        0.46        0.29

Table 24: Least Productive Subject Areas-International Collaboration
Statistics

Subject          International Collaborative Research Output

                 1997-07      1997-99      2005-07

Public Health    292          36           147
Dentisry         74           17           38
Nursing          152          14           94

Subject          International Collaborative Research Output (%)

                 1997-07      1997-99      2005-07      Difference
                                                        97-99 to
                                                        05-07

Public Health    16.67        13.69        19.22        5.53
Dentisry         6.54         12.50        5.54         -6.96
Nursing          25.04        23.73        26.70        2.98

Table 25: Least Productivity Subject Areas-Global Publication Share
of India, China and Brazil

Subject             India

                    1997       2007       1997-07

Public Health       0.45       1.07       0.73
Dentistry           0.82       2.66       1.36
Nursing             0.11       0.48       0.30

Subject             China

                    1997       2007       1997-07

Public Health       0.24       1.14       0.65
Dentistry           0.48       1.86       0.92
Nursing             0.14       1.39       0.55

Subject             Brazil

                    1997       2007       1997-07

Public Health       0.20       1.16       0.56
Dentistry           1.25       9.11       5.19
Nursing             0.08       1.09       0.44

Subject             South Korea

                    1997       2007       1997-07

Public Health       0.71       2.02       1.42
Dentistry           0.23       1.51       1.06
Nursing             0.05       1.05       0.38