Mapping Scientific Collaboration: A Bibliometric Study of Rice Crop Research in India

This paper aims to capture the pattern of collaboration operating in the field of rice crop research in India. The present study employs both bibliometric techniques as well as social network analysis to analyze the publication output indexed by Scopus database in rice crop research during 1995-2014. The study finds that Indian rice scientists prioritize collaborative research practices. Indian rice scientists demonstrate a preference for mega-authored publications. The increasing trend in the mean values of Degree of Collaboration, Collaboration Coefficient and Modified Collaboration Coefficient indicate that the proportion of multi- or mega-authored papers are accelerating steadily. Moreover, the increase in international collaboration indices manifests that the rice scientists in India have been gradually broadening the ambit of research collaboration to cope with the pace, scope and profoundness of transformations at the global level. The social network analysis of agencies reveals that the State Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and International Institutes have emerged as core collaborators in the field of rice crop research. Moreover, weak collaboration profile of industry indicates that although rice crop research has shifted from ‘Mode 1’ to ‘Mode 2’ form of knowledge production but its optimization is yet to be realized.