Identification of Research Trends at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India

Several investigators have conducted bibliometric analysis of research productivity of different countries in the world. A few studies have also been carried out to assess the productivity and impact of a single institute. As no bibliometric study on Physical Research Laboratory, India has been done before, the researcher thought it appropriate to carry out the study for her doctoral research with the following objectives: To study the division wise output of research To identify the thrust areas of research at PRL The present bibliometric study aims to measure the research output of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) during a 10 year period (1997-2006) using the data of papers published in journals. The content analysis of the articles published in journals and the use of PACS to allot keywords helped to identify the thrust areas of research carried out in PRL during 1997-2006. The study found that. 515 papers were published in subject field of Theoretical Physics (PACS 0-70), 57 papers were published in Interdisciplinary subject fields (corresponding to PACS number 80) and Geophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics (PACS number 90) account for more than half of the total share of articles published in journals (746) during the ten year period in PRL. Further classification of these subject fields have indicated the thrust areas of research carried out in Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. The researcher hopes that this information will be useful to the institute’s decision makers for future research planning