India has 2,273 scholars in Stanford list of top scientists; China has nearly 8,000

NEW DELHI : India has 2,273 scientists in the recently released Stanford University list of top two percent most cited scientists in the world. However, this number, which is based on career-long citations, pales in comparison to China which has 7,795 scientists on the list.

The gap is even wider in the list for scientists cited in 2021 – India has 3,796, less than a fifth of China’s 19,459

Although India did better than other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations overall, it fared poorly when compared to China and even fell behind Brazil and South Africa for certain subjects .

Also Read | 'The kind of funding we get is dismal, affects research': IIT Hyderabad director

Stanford University scientists have created the list based on citations, citations to research papers in different authorship positions, impact of the publications, composite indicators among other metrics.

The list includes two categories – career-long citations and citations for just 2021.

Top 2% Career-long: Engineering, ICT, chemistry

In the career-long list for engineering, for instance, China has 1,042 scientists in the top two percent while India has only 273.

In information and communication technology (ICT), China has over five times the number of scientists from India among the top scientists in the world. In the list, China has 1,084 scientists in the top two percent compared to just 198 Indian scientists.

Also Read | Centre’s spending on research, fellowships shows massive decline in past 5 years

In chemistry, China has 991 scientists in the top two percent best scientists in the world compared to 333 scientists from India.

In biology, China has 114 scientists in the top two percent while India has only 74. India even fell behind Brazil (87 scientists) and South Africa (78 scientists) in the list for top scientists in biology.

Also Read | Scientists in top 2%: Jadavpur University | Banaras Hindu University | Jamia Millia Islamia

In biomedical research, China has 144 scientists in the list while India, with 50 scientists, fell behind Brazil with 53.

Scientists in the Stanford university list: Career-long

Top 2% scientists in 2021

The pattern held true for the top cited scientists for the year 2021 which was released along with the career-long list.

China has 19,459 scientists in the top two percent most cited scientists in the world while India has only 3,796 scientists in the list.

Also Read | KVPY Scrapped: ‘We found some of our brightest students through it,’ says IISc professor

The subject wise lists also revealed the same pattern. In the engineering list for 2021, China has 2,277 scientists compared to India’s 383 scientists in the top two percent.

In ICT, China has 2,643 scientists to India’s 401 scientists in the top cited researchers list.

Scientists in the Stanford university list for 2021

In chemistry, China has 2,984 scientists in the top two percent most cited compared to just 490 from India.

In biology, China has 380 scientists and India has 172 scientists. In biomedical research, China has 439 scientists to India’s 97 scientists in the list.