A bibliometric evaluation of organic research in India

Abstract

Organic chemistry as a research area contributes to more than one percent of world publication output. The present paper attempts to draw a detailed, in-depth bibliometric analysis of organic chemistry research activity during the last decade (2004 to 2013) with special emphasis on the Indian contribution. The Indian output is compared with that of world’s leading countries using exergy, an indicator which combines quantity and quality of publications. A three-dimensional approach combining quantity, quality and consistency is used for analysing the performance of various institutions and authors. It is found that organic chemistry research activity in India during 2004-2013 is equal to the world average and its growth pattern is positive and similar to the worldwide research growth. India ranks at the 9th position based on the Exergy(X), the performance indicator while USA, Germany and China occupy first, second and third positions.Among others, the most productive organisations and authors are also identified using h-index and z-index. The paper identifies countries, international organisations and journals that cite the Indian contributions in the field.