Some differences in research publications of Indian scientists in India and the diaspora, 1986–2010

The diaspora of a less developed country, who reside outside their country of origin, can contribute to the parent country through financial or knowledge transfers, connections, or on return of talented persons. The knowledgebase of the diasporas is therefore of interest to the parent country. Scientific publications of the Indian diaspora are an indicator of the existing knowledge base of Indians overseas. Samples drawn from Web of Science (1986–2010), using a selected list of unique Indian names, are analyzed with the objective of comparing and identifying distinguishing features of the diaspora. While both Indian and diaspora samples have increased over time, publication output from Indians overseas has increased more rapidly. English was by far the most frequently used language. A major difference was found in the type of publication with many more proceedings papers and meeting abstracts by the diaspora, showing increasing importance of rapid publication of novel results. Number of articles was about the same in both samples, but a more detailed look at the top 100 journals qualifies the nature of the journal space used, which again shows major differences. Articles in Nature and Science confirm the differences in the high impact range. We end with a discussion of limitations which includes effects of changing database coverage with time.