The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has proven that it was not adjudged the top university in the country by the Centre for nothing.
With 22,056 publications between 2002 and 2014, it was ahead of 29 top academic institutions – government and private – based on the volume of publications, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology. This is the most number of publications from a single academic institute in India.
Study
The 2016 study, ‘International Comparative Performance of India’s Research Base – A Bibliometric Analysis’, looked at the number of publications research institutions had in the 12-year period. Though the IITs did not make it to the top slot, seven of them made it to the top 30 with five in the top 10. It also looks at the volumes for the specific period of 2009-13, pointing out that most institutions had their highest count of publications in 2013.
The study hailed IISc. as ‘India’s most prolific academic institution’, with its output growing from 999 to 2,224 publications between 2002 and 2014.
What’s more, the institute was termed the most prolific in most subject areas, with the highest number of publications between 2009 and 2013 in six subjects – physics and astronomy, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, materials science, chemistry, mathematics, and Earth & planetary sciences.
According to the study, a little less than half of the 30 top institutions had a strong focus on engineering, with IIT-Madras having the highest share at 44.3 per cent.
Interestingly, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research had the highest number of citations per paper (12.7 against IISc.’s 8.1) between 2009 and 2013.
‘Differences galore’
However, another section of academics were of the view that these rankings should be taken with a pinch of salt for the simple reason that not all the institutions are on the same pedestal.
K.S. Rangappa, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, said the ranking process did not consider if the institution is a central or a State university.
“The funding will differ and so will the faculty. Ours is a teaching university and 75 per cent of our workload is teaching. Though our infrastructure is poorer, we still encourage research,” he said.
Published - May 18, 2016 12:00 am IST
