India comfortably beats the other BRICS countries: normally Russia and Brazil rank 13th and 15th in total output, and Brazil occupies 20th place in citation frequency.[5] When different scientific disciplines are analyzed separately, India scores well in material science, agricultural science, and chemistry, contributing >5% of global papers. Among medical and allied sciences, its best performance is in pharmacology (3.37%). Microbiology (2.33%), immunology (1.35%), molecular biology and genetics (1.27%), and clinical medicine (1.26%) show India delivering a below-par performance as compared to other countries. Our poorest performance is in neurosciences and behavior, and psychology/psychiatry where we contribute 0.60% and 0.33% of global research.
When assessed as impact/citation relative to the world our cites-per-paper is low in all medical fields. We are unable to achieve a better than 36% impact in any medical field.[7] The relatively poor numerical strength and below par visibility of Indian medical writers is due to many reasons. Limited access to international libraries, poor accessibility to research tools/finance to many professional medical writing and biostatistics documentation impacts our work negatively.[4] These factors; however, are being addressed through multiple programs throughout the country. This trend holds promise for Indian researchers, who are gradually staking claim to their rightful place under the sun. This communication hopes to highlight the improvement in Indian rankings in the field of research; thus, encouraging younger physicians to actively engage in this field.
At the same time, it sends a message to focus on quality, not only quantity, and improve the citability of published work.
On November 3rd and 4th, 2012, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore and Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) co-hosted an invitation only regional conference titled ??Practical Solutions to Challenges in Research Ethics.?? The impetus for this conference grow out of a desire to help other Indian hospitals that conduct clinical Entinostat trials more fully develop high-quality research programs and provide the high standards of protection for human research participants. This paper is a synthesis of the major themes of the conference and lays Ixazomib mechanism out an agenda for improving participant protections in India. The themes of the conference were gleaned from the presentations given at the conference and the robust discussions that were a part of the conference; the presenters are recognized for their contribution in the acknowledgments.