Nature Index 2017: Reflections on Indian science

The Delusion

2 years ago I enrolled into a Ph.D. program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, thoroughly crestfallen at having received no foreign admits and with no high hopes for my career. The best that could happen to me, I figured, was if I could land a postdoctoral position abroad, because we all know that all good research is carried out abroad. The rhetoric against pursuing a desi Ph.D. is so loud, Indian students prefer to look for and accept any positions abroad, rather than consider Indian institutions.

From a bird's eye view, it makes sense. Indian science is under-funded and our academia stinks of unethical practices. But under all the muck and mire, there are pockets of hard-working and eminent researchers. Yes, there is something to be proud of, and no, I'm not talking of our ancient heritage.

The Data

All information presented here is on the basis of the current Nature Index. At the time of writing this post, it corresponded to the period of 1st September 2016 - 31 August 2017. Simply put, it is a a measure of high-quality natural sciences research produced by institutions and countries. (It is imperative that one keeps in mind the restricted scope of this index, lest any exaggerations or extrapolations emanate.)

Disclaimer: The Nature Index is not the only or the "best" index out there, but it presents a useful perspective.

Some caveats:

• What defines "high quality"? Publications in high-quality science journals (full list available here).
• The index is non-normalized, and it is up to the reader to try and compare our output with other nations with a comparable research budget, or size, or populations, or GDP, etc.
• Please note that I'm discussing w.r.t. Weighted fractional Counts (WFC). You may consider this simply as a parameter for judging the research output.

The Scorecard

India ranks 11th in terms of Country Outputs, out of 161 countries on the list. 
Countries ahead of us?

1. USA
2. China
3. Germany
4. UK
5. Japan
6. France
7. Canada
8. Switzerland
9. South Korea
10. Spain.

It's good to note that we're at a decent position worldwide, but disheartening to realize that Japan and many European nations that are significantly smaller in area than us, outperform us. South Korea, that spends about 4% of its GDP on R&D, being ahead of us is a reminder that our research is under-funded (0.85% of our GDP).

The Nature Index also lists 500 top institutions, among which are the following:

1. Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is ranked at 35, 
2. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is ranked at 83,
3. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) is ranked at 100,
4. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is ranked at 124,
5. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is ranked at 232,
6. Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) is ranked at 314,
7. Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is ranked at 359, and
8. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) is ranked at 417.

There are several different and reasonable ways to look at this data.

First, note that while the IITs make it to a very respectable position, they do so when results from 15 different campuses are clubbed together. The same is with most of the Indian institutions that appear on the list. Several other institutions from all over the world are clubbed this way, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (which ranks 1st) and the Max Planck Society (which ranks 3rd). There are also several institutions that stand tall in the list with a single campus, such as Harvard University (which ranks 2nd) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, which ranks 4th).

If we look at the individual WFCs for some of our institutes, we find that there are 9 institutes, namely:

1. IIT Bombay : WFC = 36.84
2. IIT Kanpur : WFC = 31.65
3. IISER Pune : WFC = 31.36
4. National Chemical Laboratory : WFC = 31.15
5. IIT Madras : WFC = 29.07
6. IIT Kharagpur : WFC = 22.49
7. IISER Bhopal : WFC = 22.48
8. IIT Guwahati : WFC = 20.22
9. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) : WFC = 18.85

that individually have a higher WFC than the last name on the list (University of Twente : WFC = 17.60). I mention this since it is difficult to predict what would happen if all institutes around the world were assessed individually.

Second, note the Indian giant IISc that stands at rank 124, with a WFC of 80.95, all by itself.

Point to note: parents, if your child is interested in science, you should consider IISc, and not just the IITs for the sake of their popularity.

The Nature Index also allows users to explore research outputs according to subjects and India's greatest output is in Chemistry.

One may also look for outputs specifically for Indian institutions here.

The Verdict

My personal opinion since coming to IIT Kanpur has been that while some of the premier institutes in our country have reasonably good funding and faculty profiles, they deserve better in terms of the student community. However, I admit that this is true for only a handful of institutes around the country, and frankly, I must leave it up to the readers to form their own impressions. I only beg that your impressions be informed, and not the clichéd "is desh ka kuchh nahin ho sakta", which is not true anymore.

The massive graduate brain drain that still continues despite national censure should be a wake-up call to both the government (we need better funding!) and to society at large as well. The number of times I have mentioned that I am a Ph.D. student at IIT Kanpur, and have not received looks of pity is unfortunately, small. It is easy to be discouraged when researchers even at our best institutions are not recognized as doing anything worthwhile, and it creates a negative impression in the minds of potential doctoral candidates. 

When society by-and-large discourages the best of its own students to pursue research in its own institutions, it does a huge disservice to its own self.

[Frankly, in a country where basic education is in such a deplorable state, one is not surprised that gundas and babas do better than scholars.]

The (Final) Request

Plain and simple: the next time someone mentions they're in the field of research, do not assume they're successful because they're abroad, and do not assume they're a failure because they're in the country. Not all that glitters is gold, and ghar ki murgi should not be dal barabar.

~ The End ~