Abstract
This study is a quantitative survey of the emergence of organic chemistry in India during the first two decades covered byChemical Abstracts. Chemists that were conducting research in this country were separated in three distincts groups, on the basis of their cultural identity and of their educational background. Important disparities between these three groups have been stated, both in terms of research fields and in terms of publication outlets.
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Among the noteworthy studies: E. SHILS, Metropolis and province in the intellectual community, in: N. V. SOVANI, V. M. DANDEKAR (Eds),Changing India, Asia Pub. House, Bombay, 1961, pp. 275–294. C. K. VANDERPOOL, Center and periphery in science: Conceptions of a stratification of nations and its consequences, in: S. P. RESTIVO, C. K. VANDERPOOL (Eds),Comparative Studies in Science and Society, Charles E. Merril Pub. Co., Colombus (Ohio), 1974, pp. 432–444. Y. M. RABKIN, H. INHABER, “Science on the periphery: A citation study of three less developed countries,Scientometrics, 1 (1979) 261. A. A. ZIADAT, Arab scientists in the North American scientific community,Arab Studies Quaterly, 4 (1982) 242.
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In addition, publications bearing the same title, and written by the same authors, appearing both in theJournal of the Chemical Society, and in theProceedings of the Chemical Society were counted once.
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Nature, 79 (24 december 1908), quoted by: MCLEOD,Op. cit. Scientific advice for British India: Imperial perceptions and administrative goals, 1898–1923,Modern Asian Studies, 9 (1975) No. 3, p. 362. This opinion was expressed in the 1908's review of the Department of Agriculture's scientific works, and was preceeded by congratulations to the Indian Government for concentrating on cotton, wheat rust, oil seeds and caterpillars.
Among these, there are the medical services (established in 1763), the Calcutta Botanical Garden (1781), a meteorological observatory in Madras (1793) and the Great Trigonomical Survey (1818); MAHALANOBIS,Op. cit. Recent development in the organization of science in India, in: A. RAHMAN (Ed.),Science Policy Studies in India, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, 1977, pp. 201–224.
There is no data available about the impact of these periodicals for the beginning of the century, but it has been shown that the Indian scientific periodicals-among them, three chemical periodicals—are “insular”; S. ARUNACHALAM, S. MARKANDAY, Science in the middle-level countries: A bibliometric analysis of scientific journals of Australia, Canada, India and Israel,Journal of Information Science, 3 (1981) 13.
The Calcutta Medical College (founded in 1835) was the first Indian institution to supply “training” in chemistry; MAHALANOBIS,Op. cit. Recent development in the organization of science in India, in: A. RAHMAN (Ed.),Science Policy Studies in India, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, 1977, pp. 201–224. Research in chemistry was undertaken in 1840 in this institution by Dr. W. B. O'Shaugnessy, a physician; MUKERJEE,Op. cit.
This quotation is excerpted from a conference thatRay pronounced in 1917;Indian Scientists, Op. cit. , G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1929.
The data concerning this issue can be found in: D. DE SOLLA PRICE,Op. cit. Little Science, Big Science, Columbia University Press, N. Y., 1963.
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Guay, Y. Emergence of basic research on the periphery: Organic chemistry in India, 1907–1926. Scientometrics 10, 77–94 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016862
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016862