India in third position in scientific publications after China, US: DST

India has seen an exponential increase in the number of scientific publications over the last 10 years, DST said

India has seen an exponential increase in the number of scientific publications over the last 10 years and is in the third position globally after China and the US, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said on Friday.

Of the 13,045 patents in 2017-18, as many as 1,937 were by Indians.

Out of 15,550 patents filed by Indians at Indian Patent Office during the period, 65 per cent were filed from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, the DST said.

India's national investment in research and development (R&D) has increased from Rs 1,13,825 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1,23,847 crore in 2018-19. At the same time, various initiatives of the DST such as the National Initiative For Developing And Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) have played a crucial role to reach this position, the DST said.

The implementation of initiatives like NIDHI have nurtured 3,681 start-ups through the network of around 150 incubators created by the DST and generated 1992 intellectual property.

Further, in the last five years, jobs generated in the form of direct employment were 65,864 and Rs 27,262 crore of economic wealth, it added.

The number of publications has increased exponentially over the last 10 years.

According to data from the US agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF), India is currently in third place, only behind China and the United States, with 1,35,788 scientific articles in the year 2018, the DST said.

The NSF database shows that India's growth rate of scientific publication was 12.9 percent, as against the world average of 4.9 percent, the DST said.

India recorded the fastest average annual growth rate of publications between 2008 and 2018 with 10.73 per cent. In comparison, the average annual growth rate of China and the United States are 7.81 and 0.71 per cent respectively.

Our efforts for connecting the invention ecosystem that excels in creating knowledge and the innovation ecosystem facilitating knowledge consumption have helped bring about this transformation, and the 5th National Science Technology and Innovation Policy will help us take this forward more effectively, DST secretary Ashutosh Sharma said.