Scientometric dimensions of nuclear science and technology research in India : a study based on INIS (1970-2002) database

This paper attempts to analyse quantitatively the growth and development of Nuclear Science and Technology research in India in terms of publication output as reflected in International Nuclear Information System (INIS) (1970-2002) database. During 1970-2002 a total of 55313 papers were published by the Indian Nuclear scientists to various domains : Physics (23033), Chemistry (16368),Life and Environmental Sciences (7203) Engineering and Technology ( 6960), Other Aspects of Nuclear and Non Nuclear Energy (981) and Isotopes and Radiation Application (768). Year-wise growth of publications and input of records to INIS database by India and other countries were analysed . Total number of records input to INIS database by India were 30356 (54.88 %) and by other countries and international organizations were 24957 (45.12%).The average number of papers published per year were 1676.15.United States is the top producer of scientific output with 397568 (16.85%) publications in this field. India ranked seventh among other countries with 55313 publications which is 2.34 percent of the total world output. Authorship and collaboration trend was towards multi-authored papers. Fifty papers had more than fifty authors each. One paper ‘Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research - A325, (1993), 23-91’ had 163 authors. Intensive international collaboration was found during the period and bilateral collaboration accounted for 80.06 percent of the total collaborative papers. More than 99 percent of publications were published in English. More than 60 percent of publications were published in journals. The most preferred journals by the scientists were Pramana 1327 (3.95%), Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics 1104 (3.29%), Physical Review -D 925 (2.75%), Journal of the Indian Chemical Society 783 (2.33%) and Indian Journal of Chemistry-A 734 (2.19%). The high frequency Indexer Assigned Descriptors were : Gamma-radiation (4076), Temperature-dependence (3220), Experimental-data (2749), Radiation-doses (2306) and India(2000)