Mapping of AIDS/HIV Research in India: A Scientometrics Analysis of Publications Output during 1999–2008

Abstract

This study analyses the research output of India in AIDS/HIV during 1999–2008 on several parameters including the growth, rank and global publications share, citation impact, share of international collaborative papers, contribution of major collaborative partner countries, contribution of various subject-fields and using co-word analysis various diseases/ infections commonly associated with AIDS/HIV in India are identified. The Scopus Citation Database has been used to retrieve the data for 10 years (1999–2008) by searching the keywords (AIDS*; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; HIV*; Human Immuno deficiency virus; Immunodeficiency virus, Human; Immunodeficiency syndrome, acquired; Immunologic deficiency syndrome, acquired; virus, Human immunodeficiency) in the combined Title, and keywords fields. To compare the profile of Indian research output with China, South Africa and Brazil, the study downloaded the data on these countries using the Affiliation field of this database. India ranks at 12th position among the top 20 countries and its global publication share (2.07%) is higher than Brazil (1.74%), but lower than China (2.24%) and South Africa (2.52%). Similarly its average annual publication growth rate of India is higher than that of Brazil, but lower than that of China and South Africa. But India’s international collaborative publication share is lower than other developing countries in top 20. Citation quality as reflected in citations per paper for South Africa and Brazil is found to be higher than that of India.Concludes that India needs to increase its output and bring about improvement in the quality of its research efforts. This can be done by investing much more in R&D expenditure, increase in the deployment of more qualified manpower and in increasing international collaboration and by modernizing and strengthening its research infrastructure.