Letters to The Editor — March 7, 2025

India and quality research

I write this as an INSA Senior Scientist and Adjunct Professor, National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. I was also a former Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar. This is with reference to the report, “India to go past U.S. in scientific publications by 2029, says Minister” (Inside pages, March 1). Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh, while quoting the Publication of National Science Board of USA on science and engineering (S and E) indicators, claims that India will go past the U.S. in scientific publications by 2029. He makes this prediction based on Table PBS-1 of the NSB which lists the number of S and E publications from 2012 to 2022, which is based on the Scopus database assessed in April 2023. I wish to highlight the point that the scholarly output of India’s total publications in all disciplines including S and E for 2024 based on Clarivate (In Cites) as on February 25, 2025, stands at 1,91,703 and the corresponding number of publications for the U.S. is 6,48,905. With such a staggering lead, I wonder how India can surpass the U.S. by 2029. How realistic is the Minister’s prediction? The Minister appears to be silent on the average quality of publications from India. Further, Clarivate depicts the CNCI value (indicator of quality of publications) for Indian publications at just 0.879 in contrast to values of 1.12 and 1.25 for China and the U.S. Out of 30 countries, India is ranked 28 with respect to the CNCI value. I appeal to the Minister to determine the root cause for the poor quality of Indian publications rather than dwelling on the quantity of our publications.

M.K. Surappa,

Bengaluru

An opportunity

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to threaten and impose higher tariffs on India from April 2 should push India to reduce its dependence on the U.S. and explore other markets. Instead of relying on protective nets, Indian industries must become globally competitive. Instead of fearing Trump’s tariff hikes, India should turn this into an opportunity by diversifying its imports, improving its manufacturing quality, and expanding into new markets. India must strengthen its position as a major industrial country.

Gopalaswamy J.,

Chennai