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E-mail: chidu_gs@sify.com. Vijay Kumar. M. Dept. of PG Studies and Research in Library and Information Science. Kuvempu University. Jnana Sahyadri- ...
Annals of Library and Information

Studies

51, I; 2004; 39-41

PUBLISHING TRENDS OF INDIAN CHEMICAL SCIENTISTS: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY

B.U.Kannappanavar

Chidananda Swamy

Vijay Kumar.

M

Dept. of PG Studies and Research J.N.N. College of Engg. UniversityLibrary in Library and Information Science Shimoga-577204 KuvempuUniversity Karnataka, India. Kuvempu University Jnana Sahyadri-577451 Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected] Jnana Sahyadri-577451 Karnataka, India. E-mail:[email protected]

The present study highlights the authorship trend and collaborative research in chemistry in India during 19962000. The study found that team research is preferred in the field of chemistry rather than solo research. The degree of collaboration is calculated and found to be 0.76. The degree of collaboration varies from year to year and is found to be 0.72 to 0.83. Average number of authors per paper has increased from 7.52 to 8.39.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main aim of the study is to know the productivity pattern of authors in the field of chemistry in India and to determine: The nature of authorship chemistry,

pattern in

INTRODUCTION Since scientific research is becoming an increasingly collaborative endeavor, the modern scientists seldom carry out solo research. It is observed that there is a consistently increasing trend towards collaboration among various branches of science and technology, which leads to collaborative authorship in literature. A large number of authorship pattern studies have been conducted. Price [1], on the basis of a survey of Chemical Abstracts, observed that there was a steady increase in the trend towards multiple authorship. Bibliometric studies are used to identify the pattern of publication, authorship, citatio.-.s and! or secondary journal coverage in the hope that such regularities can give an insight into the dynamics of the area under consideration. This consequently leads to better organization of information resources, which is essential for effective and efficient use. Authorship of a paper has become important for scientists and researchers and understandably this topic has become an im"portant area for study and debate in recent years. In this paper an attempt is being made to study the productivity of information generators or authors in the field of chemistry. Vol 51 No 1 March 2004

Proportion of single vis multi authored papers in chemistry, and To determine the degree collaboration in chemistry

of

METHODOLOGY

Indian Science Abstracts for the period 19962000 was taken as the database for the present Indian Science Abstracts, which is study. brought out by NISCAIR (erstwhile INSDOC), is the only authoritative document as far as Indian scientific literature is concerned. There were a total of 13587 entries on chemistry and chemical technology during the period 19962000. All the 13587 items were analyzed and recorded in 3x5 slips and each of them was analyzed systematically and the relevant data on productivity pattern of authors were collected and tabulated. The analyzed data is presented in different tables. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS The characteristics of any subject literature include not only the basic publishing pattern but also that of the authors themselves. Therefore, the authorship pattern was analyzed to 39

Kannappanavar

Table 1-

Authors

B U. Swamy C and Vijay Kumar M

Productivity

pattern of Authors in Chemistry in India

single authored papers. They are 76.18% and 23.8% respectively.

Degree of Collaboration in Chemistry

0.51 0.21 1.27 25.28 23.81 32.73 4448 3436 173 29 70 4.09 12.05 1638 557 3236 Number Papers Percentageof

To determine degree of collaboration in quantitative terms, the formula given by K. Subramanyam [2] was used. The formula is

C=

~

NM + NS

where

determine the percentage of single and multi authors. The results are presented in Table -1. While analyzing the Table-1, it is seen that majority of the papers are multi authored ones. Paper having single authors constitute only 23.81 % of total papers in chemistry followed by two authored 32.73%, three authored 25.28 %, four authored 12.05%, five authored 4.09%, six authored 1.27%, seven authored 0.51% and eight and more authored 0.21 %. From this it can be inferred that chemistry and chemical technology is in favor of team research.

Single vis Multi-authored Chemistry in India

Papers

in

Table - 2 clearly shows the proportion of single authored papers and multi-authored papers in the field of chemistry and chemical technology in India. It indicates that the percentages of multi-authored papers are more than that of

21.07 3841 682 16.19 17.89 1625 376 579 13587 3236 76.18 % 32.22 2575 2766 1893 26.72 18.28 1075 11.62 2178 2204 2789 2265 1802 21.88 17.40 15.69 524 23.80 10351 Total No. % Single Author Multiple Author

C = Degree of collaboration NM = Number of Multi authored papers NS = Number of single authored papers ·In the present study the value of C is 10351 C = --------------13587

C =

0.76

Thus, the degree of collaboration in chemistry is 0.76. This brings out clearly the prevalence of team research in the discipline. The degree of collaboration differs from one year to another and it is varies from 0.72 to 0.83 (Table - 3). Table 3 -

Degree of collaboration different years

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Paper with 2No.ofof paperauthor vIs Multi authored papers in Chemistry Table Single

in chemistry

in

Collaboration 0.72 0.72 0.83 0.82 0.72

Ann Lib Inf Stu

-----------------~--------_._.~._._--_

.. _-_

PUBLISHING

Table 4 -

TRENDS OF INDIAN CHEMICAL

SCIENTISTS

Average number of Authors per paper in Indian Chemical Literature.

5254 579 Total1075 number Total 376 682 524 5460 6644 8080Authors 13.97 4863 8.39(A)of number 12.68 8.01 7.52 Authorship Average per number papersof

Year (NP)

Average Authorship Per Paper Table - 4 indicates that the average number of authors per paper has also increased from 7.52 in 1996 to 8.39 in 2000. High multiple authorship is found in 1998 and 1999.

the branches of knowledge, especially in science and technology and particularly in chemistry. The present study also reveals that the trend towards collaborative research is increasing in the chemical science discipline. REFERENCES

CONCLUSION Publishing trend totally depends on the productivity pattern of the authors. Today we see that team research is visible in almost all

Vol 51 No 1 March 2004

1. 2.

PRICE (D S): Little science and Big science, Columbia press, New York, 1963. SUBRAMANYAM (K): Bibliometric studies of research collaboration: a review. Journal of Information Science. 6; 1983; 3 .

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