Ionosphere, Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG): A Quantitative and Qualitative Study

Abstract

The present study explores the characteristics of the literature and growth of Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) research in India during 1960-2014, based on Web of Science (WoS) database and make quantitative and qualitative assessment by way of analysing various features of research output by using the scientometric techniques. A total of 2748 journal articles were published on Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG), which received total 20705 citations. The average number of publications per year is 119.40 and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is 6.96% and the average number of citations per publication was 7.53. The publications peaked in the year 2014 with 504 publications and the highest number of citations (3248) was in 2006. This study analyzes the research studies based on year of publication, journal, international collaboration, spatial distribution and keyword occurrence frequency. The results of this work reveal that the publication on the Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) have grown high at a slow rate over the past 54 years and the curve fits the polynomial curve with R² = 0.863. Publications on Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) appeared in 267 journals of which most active journal was “Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physic” published by American Geophysical Union originating from USA and 324(11.790 %) of the total 2748 publications. A total of 3332 authors contributed on Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) research. The most active author was Rastogi RG produced maximum no. of publications 165(6.004%) of total publications. 1073 institutions contributed of which Indian Institute of Geomagnetism; Mumbai, India is the most productive institution. For globalization of Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) Research in India, the results show there were 73 Countries/territories which participated in Ionosphere Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism (IMG) research. USA produced maximum publications 274 that is 9.971% of total publication with higher citations (4978). A Keyword analysis reveals that ‘‘Plasma’’, ‘‘waves’’, ‘‘Irregularities’’ and “F-region”. are the most used keywords.