India Accounts for Only 3.5 Pct of Global Research

The biggest declines in volume of research between 1981 and 2010 were noted to be in plant and animal sciences (-2.2 percent) and agricultural sciences (-1.6 percent). The most major expansions were seen in pharmacology and toxicology (+4.2 percent), microbiology (+3.2 percent) and materials sciences (+3.1 percent).

Further, it was seen that India's share of world output in engineering was at 4.25 percent in 2010, overtaken by China (16.4 percent), Korea (5.4 percent) and Taiwan (4.4 percent). India's research on physics was 4.6 percent in 2010, while China's stood at 19 percent. India’s global share of research in economics was 0.7 percent in 2010 and 0.6 percent in social sciences.

India had quite a large share in agricultural sciences that averaged 7.45 percent between 1981 and 1995. But its share fell to 6.2 percent in 2010. Even in the field of plant and animal sciences, the global research output fell from 6.1 percent in 1981 to 3.9 percent in 2010.

The report further said "During the 1980s and 90s, the output of India's research was almost static while other countries grew rapidly, particularly in Asia. China expanded with an intensity and drive that led it rapidly to overtake leading European countries in the volume of its research publications. India is just beginning on this gradient," as reported by TOI.