Clarivate Analytics Lists 6 Pakistanis and 10 Indians Among World's Top 4000 Scientists
Clarivate Analytics has listed 6 Pakistani and 10 Indian researchers in its latest list of the world's 4000 most highly cited researchers (HCR). There are 12 Iranians and no Bangladeshis and no Sri Lankans on it. Clarivate's citation analysis identifies influential researchers as determined by their peers around the globe – those who have consistently won recognition in the form of high citation counts over a decade. The Web of Science serves as the basis for the regular listings of researchers whose citation records position them in the top 1% by citations for their field and year.
Highly Cited Researchers (HCR):
Clarivate Analytics has listed 6 Pakistani and 10 Indian researchers in its latest list of the world's 4000 most highly cited researchers (HCR). There are 12 Iranians and no Bangladeshis and no Sri Lankans on it. This year's Highly Cited Researchers list includes 17 Nobel Laureates. It represents more than 60 nations, but more than 80% of them are from the 10 nations and 70% from the first five – a remarkable concentration of top talent. Here are the top 10 nations in order: United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, France, Switzerland and Spain.
The United States leads among HCRs with 2,639 scientists followed by the United Kingdom's 546 and China's 482. Top three institutions producing world's most highly cited researchers are: Harvard University (186), National Institutes of Health (148) and Stanford University (100). Chinese Academy of Sciences ranks 4th with 99 highly cited researchers.
Research Output Growth:
Pakistan is one of the world's top two countries where the research output rose the fastest in 2018, according to Nature Magazine. The publication reports that the "global production of scientific papers hit an all-time high this year...with emerging economies rising fastest".
Pakistan ranked first or second depending on whether one accepts the text or the graphic (above) published by Nature. The text says Egypt had 21% growth while the graph shows Pakistan with 21% growth. Here's an excerpt of the text: "Emerging economies showed some of the largest increases in research output in 2018, according to estimates from the publishing-services company Clarivate Analytics. Egypt and Pakistan topped the list in percentage terms, with rises of 21% and 15.9%, respectively. ...China’s publications rose by about 15%, and India, Brazil, Mexico and Iran all saw their output grow by more than 8% compared with 2017".
Scientific Output:
Pakistan's quality-adjusted scientific output (Weighted Functional Count) as reported in Nature Index has doubled from 18.03 in 2013 to 37.28 in 2017. Pakistan's global ranking has improved from 53 in 2013 to 40 in 2017. In the same period, India's WFC has increased from 850.97 in 2013 to 935.44 in 2017. India's global ranking has improved from 13 in 2013 to 11 in 2017.
Pakistan's Global Ranking:
Pakistan ranks 40 among 161 countries for quality adjusted scientific output for year 2017 as reported by Nature Index 2018. Pakistan ranks 40 with quality-adjusted scientific output of 37.28. India ranks 11 with 935. Malaysia ranks 61 with 6.73 and Indonesia ranks 63 with 6.41. Bangladesh ranks 100 with 0.81. Sri Lanka ranks 84 with 1.36. US leads with almost 15,800, followed by China's 7,500, Germany 3,800, UK 3,100 and Japan 2,700.
Nature Index:
The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 high-quality science journals. The database is compiled by Nature Research. The Nature Index provides a close to real-time proxy of high-quality research output and collaboration at the institutional, national and regional level.
The Nature Index includes primary research articles published in a group of high-quality science journals. The journals included in the Nature Index are selected by a panel of active scientists, independently of Nature Research. The selection process reflects researchers’ perceptions of journal quality, rather than using quantitative measures such as Impact Factor. It is intended that the list of journals amounts to a reasonably consensual upper echelon of journals in the natural sciences and includes both multidisciplinary journals and some of the most highly selective journals within the main disciplines of the natural sciences. The journals included in the Nature Index represent less than 1% of the journals covering natural sciences in the Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) but account for close to 30% of total citations to natural science journals.
Pakistan vs BRICS:
In a report titled "Pakistan: Another BRIC in the Wall", author Lulian Herciu says that Pakistan’s scientific productivity has quadrupled, from approximately 2,000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9,000 articles in 2015. During this time, the number of Highly Cited Papers featuring Pakistan-based authors increased tenfold, from 9 articles in 2006 to 98 in 2015.
Top Asian Universities:
British ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has recently ranked 23 Pakistani universities among the top 500 Asian universities for 2019, up from 16 in 2018. Other South Asian universities figuring in the QS top universities report are 75 from India, 6 from Bangladesh and 4 from Sri Lanka.
In terms of the number of universities ranking in Asia's top 500, Pakistan with its 23 universities ranks second in South Asia and 7th among 17 Asian nations topped by China with 112, Japan 89, India 75, South Korea 57, Taiwan 36, Malaysia 26, Pakistan 23, Indonesia 22, Thailand 19, Philippines 8, Hong Kong 7, Vietnam 7, Bangladesh 6, Sri Lanka 4, Singapore 3, Macao 2 and Brunei 2.
Summary:
Clarivate Analytics has listed 6 Pakistani and 10 Indian researchers in its latest list of the world's 4000 most highly cited researchers (HCR). There are 12 Iranians and no Bangladeshis and no Sri Lankans on it. Pakistan is among the world's top two countries where the research output rose the fastest in 2018. Pakistan's quality-adjusted scientific output (WFC) as reported in Nature Index has doubled from 18.03 in 2013 to 37.28 in 2017. Pakistan's global ranking has improved from 53 in 2013 to 40 in 2017. Pakistan ranks 40 with quality-adjusted scientific output of 37.28. India ranks 11 with 935. Malaysia ranks 61 with 6.73 and Indonesia ranks 63 with 6.41. Bangladesh ranks 100 with 0.81. Sri Lanka ranks 84 with 1.36. In a report titled "Pakistan: Another BRIC in the Wall", author Lulian Herciu says that Pakistan’s scientific productivity has quadrupled, from approximately 2,000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9,000 articles in 2015. During this time, the number of Highly Cited Papers featuring Pakistan-based authors increased tenfold, from 9 articles in 2006 to 98 in 2015. British ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has recently ranked 23 Pakistani universities among the top 500 Asian universities for 2019, up from 16 in 2018.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
South Asia Investor Review
Pakistani-American is Top US Expert in Quantum Computing
AI Research at NED University Funded By Silicon Valley NEDians
Pakistan Hi-Tech Exports Exceed A Billion US Dollars in 2018
Pakistan Becomes CERN Member
Pakistani Scientists at CERN
Rising College Enrollment in Pakistan
Pakistani Universities Listed Among Asia's Top 500 Jump From 16 to 23 in One Year
Genomics and Biotech Research in Pakistan
Human Capital Growth in Pakistan
Educational Attainment in Pakistan
Pakistan Human Development in Musharraf Years
Highly Cited Researchers (HCR):
Clarivate Analytics has listed 6 Pakistani and 10 Indian researchers in its latest list of the world's 4000 most highly cited researchers (HCR). There are 12 Iranians and no Bangladeshis and no Sri Lankans on it. This year's Highly Cited Researchers list includes 17 Nobel Laureates. It represents more than 60 nations, but more than 80% of them are from the 10 nations and 70% from the first five – a remarkable concentration of top talent. Here are the top 10 nations in order: United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, France, Switzerland and Spain.
 |
| Most Highly Cited Pakistani Scientists. Source: Clarivate Analytics |
The United States leads among HCRs with 2,639 scientists followed by the United Kingdom's 546 and China's 482. Top three institutions producing world's most highly cited researchers are: Harvard University (186), National Institutes of Health (148) and Stanford University (100). Chinese Academy of Sciences ranks 4th with 99 highly cited researchers.
Research Output Growth:
Pakistan is one of the world's top two countries where the research output rose the fastest in 2018, according to Nature Magazine. The publication reports that the "global production of scientific papers hit an all-time high this year...with emerging economies rising fastest".
 |
| Countries With Biggest Rises in Research Output. Source: Nature |
Pakistan ranked first or second depending on whether one accepts the text or the graphic (above) published by Nature. The text says Egypt had 21% growth while the graph shows Pakistan with 21% growth. Here's an excerpt of the text: "Emerging economies showed some of the largest increases in research output in 2018, according to estimates from the publishing-services company Clarivate Analytics. Egypt and Pakistan topped the list in percentage terms, with rises of 21% and 15.9%, respectively. ...China’s publications rose by about 15%, and India, Brazil, Mexico and Iran all saw their output grow by more than 8% compared with 2017".
Scientific Output:
Pakistan's quality-adjusted scientific output (Weighted Functional Count) as reported in Nature Index has doubled from 18.03 in 2013 to 37.28 in 2017. Pakistan's global ranking has improved from 53 in 2013 to 40 in 2017. In the same period, India's WFC has increased from 850.97 in 2013 to 935.44 in 2017. India's global ranking has improved from 13 in 2013 to 11 in 2017.
 |
| Top 10 Pakistan Institutions in Scientific Output. Source: Nature Index |
Pakistan ranks 40 among 161 countries for quality adjusted scientific output for year 2017 as reported by Nature Index 2018. Pakistan ranks 40 with quality-adjusted scientific output of 37.28. India ranks 11 with 935. Malaysia ranks 61 with 6.73 and Indonesia ranks 63 with 6.41. Bangladesh ranks 100 with 0.81. Sri Lanka ranks 84 with 1.36. US leads with almost 15,800, followed by China's 7,500, Germany 3,800, UK 3,100 and Japan 2,700.
Nature Index:
The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 high-quality science journals. The database is compiled by Nature Research. The Nature Index provides a close to real-time proxy of high-quality research output and collaboration at the institutional, national and regional level.
The Nature Index includes primary research articles published in a group of high-quality science journals. The journals included in the Nature Index are selected by a panel of active scientists, independently of Nature Research. The selection process reflects researchers’ perceptions of journal quality, rather than using quantitative measures such as Impact Factor. It is intended that the list of journals amounts to a reasonably consensual upper echelon of journals in the natural sciences and includes both multidisciplinary journals and some of the most highly selective journals within the main disciplines of the natural sciences. The journals included in the Nature Index represent less than 1% of the journals covering natural sciences in the Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) but account for close to 30% of total citations to natural science journals.
Pakistan vs BRICS:
In a report titled "Pakistan: Another BRIC in the Wall", author Lulian Herciu says that Pakistan’s scientific productivity has quadrupled, from approximately 2,000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9,000 articles in 2015. During this time, the number of Highly Cited Papers featuring Pakistan-based authors increased tenfold, from 9 articles in 2006 to 98 in 2015.
Top Asian Universities:
In terms of the number of universities ranking in Asia's top 500, Pakistan with its 23 universities ranks second in South Asia and 7th among 17 Asian nations topped by China with 112, Japan 89, India 75, South Korea 57, Taiwan 36, Malaysia 26, Pakistan 23, Indonesia 22, Thailand 19, Philippines 8, Hong Kong 7, Vietnam 7, Bangladesh 6, Sri Lanka 4, Singapore 3, Macao 2 and Brunei 2.
Summary:
Clarivate Analytics has listed 6 Pakistani and 10 Indian researchers in its latest list of the world's 4000 most highly cited researchers (HCR). There are 12 Iranians and no Bangladeshis and no Sri Lankans on it. Pakistan is among the world's top two countries where the research output rose the fastest in 2018. Pakistan's quality-adjusted scientific output (WFC) as reported in Nature Index has doubled from 18.03 in 2013 to 37.28 in 2017. Pakistan's global ranking has improved from 53 in 2013 to 40 in 2017. Pakistan ranks 40 with quality-adjusted scientific output of 37.28. India ranks 11 with 935. Malaysia ranks 61 with 6.73 and Indonesia ranks 63 with 6.41. Bangladesh ranks 100 with 0.81. Sri Lanka ranks 84 with 1.36. In a report titled "Pakistan: Another BRIC in the Wall", author Lulian Herciu says that Pakistan’s scientific productivity has quadrupled, from approximately 2,000 articles per year in 2006 to more than 9,000 articles in 2015. During this time, the number of Highly Cited Papers featuring Pakistan-based authors increased tenfold, from 9 articles in 2006 to 98 in 2015. British ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has recently ranked 23 Pakistani universities among the top 500 Asian universities for 2019, up from 16 in 2018.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
South Asia Investor Review
Pakistani-American is Top US Expert in Quantum Computing
AI Research at NED University Funded By Silicon Valley NEDians
Pakistan Hi-Tech Exports Exceed A Billion US Dollars in 2018
Pakistan Becomes CERN Member
Pakistani Scientists at CERN
Rising College Enrollment in Pakistan
Pakistani Universities Listed Among Asia's Top 500 Jump From 16 to 23 in One Year
Genomics and Biotech Research in Pakistan
Human Capital Growth in Pakistan
Educational Attainment in Pakistan
Pakistan Human Development in Musharraf Years
Comments
Saudi Arabia has announced 583 fully funded scholarships for Pakistani students at 23 leading universities in the Kingdom.
In a joint announcement, Saudi and Pakistani officials said that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan will process applications and award 400 scholarships to students studying for bachelor’s degrees, 100 for master’s degrees and 83 for Ph.D. students hoping to study at Saudi universities.
The scholarships will cover all disciplines, except for health and medicine.
Planning for the scholarships was handled by Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, and Ali Mohammed Hawsawi, the Kingdom’s cultural attache in Islamabad.
Hawsawi said Saudi Arabia has been awarding limited scholarships to Pakistani students for several years, but would now offer a much larger number.
“Pakistani students can gain admission at all Saudi universities in any subject of their choice, unlike in the past,” Hawsawi said. “We are brother countries and we hope this opportunity will benefit both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.”
Hawsawi and Al-Malki discussed the selection procedure of students with Pakistan’s Education Ministry. In the past, Pakistani students had to apply directly to Saudi universities for scholarships or make inquiries through the Ministry of Education. Now only the HEC will process scholarship applications.
“We hope when Pakistani students return after the completion of their studies in Saudi universities, they will be able to contribute positively in their respective fields,” Hawsawi said.
The HEC is advertising the scholarships on Pakistan national media with Jan. 31 as an application deadline.
“This is a welcome addition to the HEC’s foreign scholarships program and we hope this collaboration with Saudi Arabia will continue in the years to come,” Ayesha Ikram, HEC’s media director, said.
She said all scholars would be selected “purely on merit” through a system devised by the commission. A total of 250 students would be selected for scholarships and the remainder would be picked next year.
The Kingdom will provide health care for students and their families as well as accommodation, food, return air tickets and special allowances, such as two months’ stipend on arrival in Saudi Arabia and three months’ graduation allowance for shipping books.
Tertiary institutes where Pakistani students can apply include King Abdul Aziz University, King Saud University, King Faisal University, King Khalid University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University.
“I am searching for my relevant discipline at Saudi universities and will apply for the scholarship in a couple of days,” said Azka Noreen, who plans to pursue a doctorate in biochemistry.
“This will help me to study at a top university in Saudi Arabia and also explore many historic places in the Kingdom.”
Last March the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) welcomed Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, to its campus. Nearby, and captured in a photograph of the occasion, was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, reportedly an intelligence officer who is often seen in the prince’s company.
[This is an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, America’s leading higher education publication. It is presented here under an agreement with University World News.]
Months later Mutreb was in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, allegedly helping oversee the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi exile and Washington Post columnist, according to accounts from the news media and Turkish and United States officials. He is now one of 17 Saudi officials under sanction by the US government.
The ‘disturbing’ visit to the MIT campus is one of many facts laid out in a new report by Richard K Lester, MIT’s associate provost for international activities, that seeks to re-examine the university’s relationship with Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Khashoggi’s killing.
But Lester, despite acknowledging that taking money from agencies affiliated with the Saudi government raises ethical issues, ended up recommending that MIT not sever those ties.
In short, Lester reasoned, no evidence has surfaced tying any of the organisations that MIT deals with – the state oil company, Saudi Aramco, for example – to the assassination. And, he wrote, cutting ties with them would probably do little to make Saudi Arabia less repressive.
“On the positive side,” he concluded, “these organisations are supporting important research and activities at MIT on terms that honour our principles and comply with our policies.”
MIT is just one of many colleges with financial ties to Saudi Arabia, but it was among the first to publicly re-examine its Saudi partnerships in October, when L Rafael Reif, its president, asked Lester to compile a report. MIT released Lester’s preliminary findings on 6 December.
The report provides an uncommonly candid argument in favour of maintaining ties with an autocratic state caught at the centre of an international furor. And it may dismay activists who have pressed MIT and other colleges to forgo the millions they reap from the regime and its affiliates.
The Khashoggi crisis broke out as MIT was considering a ‘significant expansion’ of its relationships with Saudi Arabia, according to the report. Despite the country’s illiberal domestic policies and involvement in the Yemeni civil war, MIT officials hoped to be a part of what they saw as the kingdom’s steps toward reform. “The Khashoggi murder has deflated many of those hopes,” Lester wrote.
Nevertheless, he recommended maintaining MIT’s ties to the kingdom. Saudi donors, state agencies, companies and state-owned enterprises have spent millions of dollars to sponsor research, scholarships and academic programmes.
Saudi Aramco, for instance, the largest Saudi funder of MIT’s sponsored research, has contributed about US$5 million to MIT per year for the past five years, according to an interview Lester gave to The Tech, the student newspaper.
Just over half of that overall Saudi spending in the past three years, from Saudi agencies, state-owned enterprises and universities, has funded research projects at MIT, according to the report. Lester emphasised that donors do not control the research they fund.
Gifts from Saudi donors accounted for 44% of overall spending, funding scholarships, fellowships and programmes. Many of those gifts came from Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi businessman and MIT alumnus who has donated US$73 million to the college over the past decade, according to the Associated Press.
The journal Nature reported in December that Pakistan's research output increased the most among all countries in the world – by 21%.
https://thewire.in/education/research-productivity-increased-most-in-pakistan-last-year-at-first-glance
Academia in Pakistan appears to be booming.
Productivity has never been higher. A recent report by the publishing service Clarivate Analytics stated that Pakistan saw a 21% increase in research output in 2018 – the highest in the world. The number of research papers published increased fourfold between 2006 and 2015. According to Reuters, the number of ‘highly cited papers’ authored by Pakistani scholars has jumped significantly, from nine articles in 2006 to 98 in 2015.
According to Edarabia (https://www.edarabia.com/universities/pakistan/) , Pakistan now produces 445,000 university graduates every year. The number of Pakistani students studying in the US increased by 14.2% in 2017 and 7.4% in 2018. While scholarships contribute to this figure, it also reflects a changing socio-economic landscape in Pakistan, and the rise of an affluent class able to educate their children abroad. And since many scholarships require students to return to their countries of origin after graduation, more foreign-educated Pakistanis are returning to their homeland and often re-enter academia.
Reading all of this, one can be forgiven for thinking that a Pakistani higher education institute is a ticket to intellectual glory. The fact is that academic administrators have been delivering this spiel to hide numerous, and widening, cracks in the system.
The level of education has improved in the last decade or so with an explosion in the number of private universities (from two in 1992 to 188 recognised by the Higher Education Commission [HEC]). However, the quality of education has been falling and, with that, the quality of research papers as well.
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So it’s clear that the highest quality research being produced by Pakistanis is more often than not outside Pakistan. Inside, the country’s education system isn’t producing many students who can think critically about local problems and innovate solutions.
Together with a prevalent culture of dishonesty, where scientometric numbers are of greater interest than credible papers in credible journals, the situation can only deteriorate.
Reports like the one by Nature sound too good to be true because they are. Real achievements in research don’t happen spontaneously. They have to be earned with hard work and policies that orient that work towards the right goals.
There are two easy places at which to begin. First: the Pakistani government spends only 2% of its budget on education. Increasing this figure can only be a good thing. Second: the government should then undertake a structural overhaul of the country’s antiquated education system.
https://www.edarabia.com/universities/pakistan/
https://www.aku.edu/news/Pages/News_Details.aspx?nid=NEWS-002899
The Dawood Foundation's MagnifiScience Centre (MSC) and Aga Khan University (AKU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in pursuit of their common goal of equitable human advancement by launching projects in teacher training, innovation in science, education, informal learning, healthcare, learning technologies and the environment.
As per the terms of the MOU, both institutions will synergize through knowledge sharing, exchange of students and professionals, provision of trainings, consultations and workshops and implementation of research to foster the development of the youth and advancement of professionals.
“This collaboration will prove to be a great asset for the advancement in science education and environment. Together with AKU, we aim to provide people of our society with platforms where they can learn and prosper" said Syed Fasihuddin Biyabani, Chief Executive Officer of The Dawood Foundation.
Education that fosters problem-solving, creativity, and innovation is known to prepare youth for the fast-changing, increasingly global and technological world. I am grateful to the Dawood Foundation for joining hands with us to achieve excellence in providing such an education." said Dr. Anjum Halai, Vice Provost of Aga Khan University.
Both organisations agreed to designate their institutional representatives to implement programmes through this Memorandum of Understanding over a five-year term, to fulfil their aim of transforming science education in Pakistan.
The MagnifiScience Centre is an inclusive space to provide scientific exposure with hands-on learning experiences to everyone, irrespective of demographics and socio-economic backgrounds.
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-migration-academics-economic-necessarily-brain.html
A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, developed a database on international migration of academics in order to assess emigration patterns and trends for this key group of innovators. Their paper was published in PNAS on Jan. 18.
As a first step, the team produced a database that contains the number of academics who publish papers regularly, and migration flows and migration rates for all countries that include academics who published papers listed on the bibliographic database Scopus. The migration database was obtained by leveraging metadata of more than 36 million journal articles and reviews published from 1996 to 2021.
"This migration database is a major resource to advance our understanding of the migration of academics," says MPIDR Researcher Ebru Sanliturk. Data Scientist Maciej Danko adds: "While the underlying data are proprietary, our approach generates anonymized aggregate-level datasets that can be shared for noncommercial purposes and that we are making publicly available for scientific research."
MPIDR Researcher Aliakbar Akbaritabar explains how they processed the bibliographic data in order to receive information about the migration patterns of academics: "We used the metadata of the article title, name of the authors and affiliations of almost every article and review published in Scopus since 1996. We followed every single one of the roughly 17 million researchers listed in the bibliographic database through the years and noticed changes in affiliation and, by using that tactic we know how many academics left a given country every year."
The researchers' empirical analysis focused on the relationship between emigration and economic development, indicating that academic setting patterns may differ widely from population-level ones.
Previous literature has shown that, as low-income countries become richer, overall emigration rates initially rise. At a certain point the increase slows down and the trend reverses, with emigration rates declining.
This means that favoring economic development has the counterintuitive effect of initially increasing migration from low- and middle-income countries, rather than decreasing it.
Is this pattern also generally valid for migration of scientists?
Not really.
The researchers found that, when considering academics, the pattern is the opposite: in low- and middle-income countries, emigration rates decrease as the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increases. Then, starting from around 25,000 US Dollars in GDP, the trend reverses and emigration propensity increases as countries get richer.
MPIDR Director Emilio Zagheni adds, "Academics are a crucial group of innovators whose work has relevant economic effects. We showed that their propensity to emigrate does not immediately increase with economic development—indeed it decreases until a high-income turning point and then increases. This implies that increasing economic development does not necessarily lead to an academic brain drain in low- and middle-income countries."
Unveiling these and related patterns, and addressing big scientific questions with societal implications, was possible only because of painstaking work in preparing this new global database of migration of academics. "We are putting the final touches on an even more comprehensive database, the Scholarly Migration Database, which will be released on its own website soon," says software developer Tom Theile.