Indo-US Research Collaboration: strengthening or declining?

TL;DR

This study analyzes three decades of Indo-US research collaboration, revealing increased absolute collaborations but a declining proportion relative to India's international partnerships, while US collaborations remain highly impactful.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive scientometric analysis of Indo-US research collaboration trends from 1990 to 2020, highlighting patterns and policy implications.

Findings

Increase in absolute Indo-US collaborative papers over time

Decline in proportion of Indo-US papers among India's international collaborations

US collaborations are highly rewarding in citations and impact measures

Abstract

Despite the importance of Indo-US research collaboration, it is intriguing to note that measurement and characterization of dynamics of Indo-US research collaboration is relatively underexplored. Therefore, in this work, we investigate major patterns in Indo-US collaboration with respect to certain key aspects using suitable scientometric notions and indicators. The research publication data for the last three decades (1990-2020) is obtained from Web of Science and analysed for the purpose. Results indicate an increase in absolute number of Indo-US collaborated papers over time, with an impressive share of about 1/3rd of India's total internationally collaborated research output. However, the proportionate share of Indo-US collaborated papers in India's internationally collaborated papers has declined over the time, as Indian researchers find new collaborating partners. Nevertheless, the collaboration with US is found to be highly rewarding in terms of citations and boost measures. Important insights and recommendations that may be helpful for shaping up new perspective on Indo-US collaboration policy are presented in this work.