Parkinson′s disease in India: An analysis of publications output during 2002-2011

Abstract

Objectives: This study analyzes the research output of India in Parkinson's disease (PD) during 2002-2011 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, contribution and impact of most productive institutions and authors, media of communication, and characteristics of high-cited papers. Materials and Methods: The Scopus Citation Database has been used to retrieve the data for 10 years (2002-2011) by searching the keywords PD in the combined Title, Abstract, and Keywords fields. Results: Among the top 20 most productive countries in PD, India ranks 16 th (with 458 papers) with a global publication share of 1.47% and an annual average publication growth rate of 26.05% during 2002-2011. Its global publication share has increased over the years, rising from 1.08% during 2002-2006 to 1.74% during 2007-2011. Its citation impact per paper was 5.77 during 2002-2011, which decreased from 8.40 during 2002-2006 to 4.64 during 2007-2011. Its international collaborative publications share was 26.18% during 2002-2011, which marginally increased from 26.17% during 2002-2006 to 26.18% during 2007-2011. Conclusion: It can be concluded that India's research performance in PD is quite good in the global context, despite the low prevalence of PD in the country. However, India needs to intensify its innovative strategies and international collaboration to strengthen its research output, human resources, funds, public-health awareness through local campaigns, and initiatives for the prevention and treatment of PD.