Module 32

Challenges in Indian Research and Writing I

-Dr Rajat Agarwal
Department of Management Studies,
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee-247664

Dear friends,
I, welcome you to the particular part of this course we are going to discuss the challenges in
Indian Research and writing. In this first session, in this particular aspect, we will like to highlight two types
of challenges which you can see in Indian research. These challenges are with respect to:

• Quantity
• Quality
Quality means that we have already discussed in earlier sessions where “Professor Semalty” mentioned the
impact of the research, so the quality is basically related that how impactful is your research, how others
are going to follow your research, what kind of societal value is being generated by your research. So, these
are the different issues which are basically focused on quality aspect.

Second aspect is with respect to the quantity. These numbers which are not significant with respect to
research. Both are the imp challenges in Indian Research & Writing. We need to improve on our numbers
and also need to improve on our quality of research. So our challenges are two-fold.

In this particular session we are going to discuss the numbers. When we see the numbers, one of the most
respected database; Clarivate Analytics. Now as per this Clarivate Analytics where you have the very
popular name; Web of Science. As in particular field of writing in Engineering & Science, SCI indexed
Journal, basically those journals which are a part of Web of Science. They have a product, the company
which is doing the whole data basing is Thomson writer. The Thomson writer has developed this Clarivate
Analytics. As per CA, see imp research area at the global area; that is the biochemistry & molecular biology,
Chemistry, Electrical & Electronics Engg. , Medicine, Research & Experimental, Economics, Management.
These are the areas where we publish our papers.
As per the comparison available from June 2019, institutions which are affiliated to USA published in field
of the biochemistry & molecular biology: 978,855 papers while in India it is less than USA: 54,684 only.
Therefore, there is huge number gap. Similarly, in the area of Chemistry in USA universities have
published: 665,598 while in India In field of Chemistry: 85,117 papers. In the area of Electrical &
Electronics Engg. In USA universities have published: 742,679 while in India In field of Electrical &
Electronics Engg.:142,714 papers. Similarly, So on, in the area of Medicine, Research & Experimental in
USA universities have published: 349,414 while in India In field of Medicine, Research & Experimental:
14,889 papers. So on, in the area of Economics in USA universities have published: 269,406 while in India
 Module 32 : Challenges in Indian Research and Writing I

In field of Economics: 7088 papers. Also, in the area of Management in USA universities have published:
127,445 while in India In field of Management: 4612 papers. So, there is huge gap in writing in academic
area.
Our number in top journals which are globally recognized is a matter of concern. We need to create more
awareness why this number is less as we are not writing and we are not publishing. We do not know what
the benefit of publishing is. We are able to recognize that what benefit the publishing will give to us and
therefore we are not interested in writing research papers, not interested in publishing in quality journals.
The most popular institution, MIT, globally recognized institution. From MIT till JUNE 2019, the total
number of publications which are available around 2 lakh 90 thousand. The complete IIT system present in
India which is considered to be reputed institution with respect to engg, technology, science and education.
The cumulative output in terms of publications from the Web of Science database is less than 2 lakhs. On
the basis of citations, MIT has somewhere around 9 lakh citations but in case of IITs have 3 lakh citations.
So, this tells about the output quality which we are producing.
The major Challenges in Indian Research are:

• The lack of a scientific training in the methodology of research.

- In graduation & post-graduation, we are not able to develop the temperament. Though we have
world-class syllabus yet can’t develop those entities, therefore not able to develop a good
research equipment. We are creating those which obey directions well and are not thinking as
thinking is required in the research.
• There is sufficient interaction between the university research departments on one sideband
business establishments, government departments and research institutions on the other side.
- We are having limited interaction between various entities of the society. When you won’t
interact with the entities around you, you won’t be able to identify the new research problems.
When you don’t have any research problem in hand then what you will research & what you
will publish as well. Therefore, that system needs to be developed. If am working in
government, then I know much about the government but the academicians do not know much
of the government. So, am not open to academicians. When am in academics, those others do
not know much about the research publications.Therfore, we can’t develop that ecosystem
where collaboration and partnerships can be developed. Good research publications and writing
can only happen when you have collaborations with various stakeholders.

• Most of the business units in our county do not have the confidence that the material supplied by
them to researchers.
- In India, most of the organizations have their own trading department, own R& D set-ups. They
have very limited confidence on academia. The academia can also provide the valuable input
to them. Therefore this interaction among them is very weak.
• Research studies overlapping one another are undertaken quite often for want of adequate
information.
- Overlapping is occurring because we are not making proper collaboration. We’re not
interacting so may be many would be doing similar kind of studies. In India, the Himalayas,
the Ganga and beautiful flora and fauna also in this area, yet because of limited coordination
between the agencies, may be many would be doing similar kind of studies in this area for the
sake of saving the Himalayas, The Ganga and beautiful flora and fauna also in this area. If all
these agencies collaborate and they do that research with proper synchronization, then impact
will much higher. Overlapping studies are not letting possible for good publications. As you

MOOC: Academic Writing by Dr Ajay Semalty, HNB Garhwal University (A Central University)
Srinagar (Garhwal) Uttarakhand, India
 Module 32 : Challenges in Indian Research and Writing I

cannot bring novelty in your research, that will decrease your numbers and quality of
publications.
• There does not exist a code of conduct for researchers and inter-university and interdepartmental
rivalries are also quite common.
- We do not have proper research architects and we do not have proper research ethics also.
Therefore a lot of issues are happening. For example; you’re going to an PHD examination,
you got an good idea in PHD presentation. You come to ur university and you can give similar
kin of idea to your research scholars or team, to pursue that idea further. Now this may create
a lot of interuniversity and inter departmental rivalries. So, very imp thing that how can we
write white papers, working papers. So that whatever work am doing so that we can protect it
right from the beginning interuniversity and inter departmental rivalries can be
minimized.Therfore we can avoid overlapping of research.
So if we start working paper in Indian organizations, it will certainly improve the quality of the
research output and will also avoid the overlapping .There is a need of more collaborative research in our
country.

So, in this we stop our first session of Challenges in Indian Research & Writing.

Thank you very much!!

MOOC: Academic Writing by Dr Ajay Semalty, HNB Garhwal University (A Central University)
Srinagar (Garhwal) Uttarakhand, India
 Module 32 : Challenges in Indian Research and Writing I

Credits

Course Coordinator
Dr Ajay Semalty
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
HNB Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar (Garhwal), India

Content Writer & Presenter

Dr Rajat Agarwal
Department of Management Studies,
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee-247664

Content Reviewers
Prof. (Retd.) M.S.M. Rawat
Former Vice Chancellor; HNB Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar (Garhwal)
Advisor-HE, Govt. of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, India

Prof. D.S. Rawat

Department of Chemistry
University of Delhi, India

Technical Reviewer
Dr Ajay Semalty
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
HNB Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar (Garhwal), India

Instructional Designer
Lokesh Adhikari
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
HNB Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar (Garhwal), India

MOOC: Academic Writing by Dr Ajay Semalty, HNB Garhwal University (A Central University)
Srinagar (Garhwal) Uttarakhand, India