LAHORE, Nov 27: The number of research publications in sciences and engineering has tremendously increased in Pakistan over the decade 2000-2010.
This has been revealed in a finding of an international research monitoring agency by the name of SCImago, based in Spain, which carried out a deep analysis of a vast international database (Scopus), containing information about research output of all countries in the world since 1996.
According to the study, Pakistan produced 1,100 research documents in 2000 which increased seven fold to near 7,000 in 2010.
The SCImago database also contains a subject-wise analysis of research output for mathematical sciences in Pakistan which reveals a staggering rise of research activity.
This rise is especially prominent in the field of mathematics. The period from 1996 to 2004 saw Pakistan produce an average of 20 mathematical publications per year.
But in 2005, this figure jumped to 70, more than thrice the average previously, and to 116 in 2006, an almost six fold increase. The tally stands at 392 articles in mathematical sciences originating from Pakistan in 2010. This is an almost 20 fold increase from the average during 1996-2004.
Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences Director General A. D Raza Chaudhry said in a statement that a deeper study of the Scopus database reveals the soundness of this change.
Research in many areas of mathematics such as algebra, number theory, topology, geometry, discrete mathematics and probability theory was essentially non-existent in Pakistan before 2004.
But steadily the publications in these areas increased from 2004 onwards, when ASSMS invited their highly reputed foreign faculty to conduct PhD research.
He said comparing the number of research papers with engineering sciences, Pakistan produced 169 research documents in areas of engineering as compared to 55 in mathematics in 2004.
A substantial difference especially given that the average in preceding years for mathematics was 20 per annum. But by 2010, the bridge between two disciplines had diminished significantly, with 449 research publications for engineering as compared
to 392 in mathematics.
At this rate, the mathematics research is expected to exceed in engineering sciences in Pakistan in future.
This is surprising given the large number of engineering universities and colleges offering graduate and postgraduate programmes as compared to the handful of mathematics PhD programmes in Pakistan.
The credit for this tremendous increase in the field of sciences and engineering goes to the HEC for many dynamic and far reaching policies initiated at the start of 2000, he observed.
He said the data analysis on mathematical research in Pakistan had proved that the Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences had made Pakistan a major contributor to mathematics in the region.
Seven fold rise in sciences research | Provinces | DAWN.COM
