Mapping the research impact of collaboration and networking of ICAR fisheries research institutes in India: A scientometric study

The eight National Fisheries Research Institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) play a significant role in driving fisheries development in the country by advancing knowledge through basic and applied research; technology development and extension/outreach. Collaboration and networking among researchers and institutes are fundamental to address the multi-faceted issues confronting the fisheries sector in India. Collaborative research pattern among ICARFisheries Research Institutes (IFRIs) and with R&D organisations in other countries was studied for a period of 20 years (2000-2019). Research productivity and focus areas of research of these institutes were also assessed through bibliometrics of publications extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The search yielded 4,557 publications and a significant increase in the number of publications from 2000 to 2019 was evident . Major chunk of these papers (87%) was published in collaboration with National Institutes while only 10.6% had international collaboration especially with the United States of America (USA), Australia and Japan. A positive correlation (p<0.01) was observed between the extent of collaboration (both national and international) and the average citation per paper. The average impact factor of the journals carrying fisheries research papers with at least one international author was higher than those in which the papers were with only Indian authors. This leads us to hypothesise that the network of IFRIs with international research institutions aids in increasing the quality, visibility and impact of research. The co-authorship pattern revealed a gradual reduction in single and two-authored papers during the last 20 years, while multi-authored papers exhibited an increasing trend. The study showed that the collaboration network in fisheries research is growing fast; collaborating countries in the network increased gradually, and the number of authors and publications increased almost exponentially, as indicated by the growth rate and doubling time in research publications. The present study provides a multi-dimensional overview of the impact of research publications from IFRIs and provides specific insights in to the research managers to plan and strategise their collaborations to enhance the influence of fisheries research in India.