Cataract research in India: A scientometric study of publications output, 2002-2011

Analyses the 1293 Indian publications in cataract research during 2002-2011, with a focus on contribution and citation impact of 15 most productive countries, India’s overall contribution, its growth, citation impact, the share of international collaborative papers, identification of significant countries in India’s international collaboration, different types of cataract research, analyses of research by subfields and different population age groups, productivity, and impact of leading Indian institutions and authors and pattern of communication of Indian output in most productive journals. The Scopus Citation Database has been used to retrieve the data for 10 years (2002-2011). Indian publications increased from 87 papers in 2002 to 195 papers in 2011, witnessing an annual average growth rate of 10.03%, registering an average citation impact per paper of 3.26 and international collaborative share of 21.58% during 2002-2011. Suggest that the government should encourage the decision makers and ophthalmologists and allied persons involved in ophthalmic services to make serious efforts in reducing the burden of cataract disease by increasing the R&D, strengthening of national and international collaboration and improve the existing training programs for ophthalmologic professionals.