Scholarly Communication of Deemed Universities: a scientometric approach towards Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences

Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) is the largest medical institute under State Legislature Act in Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The study discussed in this article is a bibliometric assessment of scientific research output of SKIMS Deemed University during 1989–2019. The study also analysed the year-wise research output, authorship pattern, subject wise, document type, collaborative countries and institutes, top journal of publications, prolific authors, and highly cited articles from SKIMS. Publication data of 31 years of the medical university indicate that total 154 papers were published from 1989 to 2019, receiving 753 citations, with h-index (the value of h is such that the given journal/author has published at least h papers, cited at least h times.) as 14, as per the Web of Science (WoS) database. The study reveals that the year 2010 was the most productive in terms of research output, with 24 papers published. This was followed by 2011 and 2009, with 16 and 15 publications, respectively. However, the study also reveals that some years, for instance, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005 did not witness a noteworthy publication of research articles. The SKIMS’ faculty members worked as a team where of the total publications, 66.88% were four-authored publications and only 9.09% were written by single author. Majority of research publications were published in the subject areas like surgery (22.72%), pediatrics (18.18%), and oncology (12.98%). The faculty of SKIMS published their research papers mainly in the form of journal articles (55.19%) which consist of total 154 publications, followed by the meeting abstracts (21.42%), and editorial material (10.38%) publications. These scholarly publications are authored by some of the most prolific authors such as Choh, N.A. with 9.09%, followed by Bhat, M. A. and Choh, S.A. (each contributing 6.49% to the published material). The SKIMS’ faculty worked in collaboration with many countries, for example, USA, contributing 2.59%, Australia, Bangladesh, and Finland, each country contributed 1.29%, to the total publications. Individual contribution of countries such as Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei and Bulgaria was 0.69% to the total publications’ share. The SKIMS’ researchers/doctors worked with top collaborating institutions which mainly include University of Kashmir, Government Medical College, and All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Foreign journals were the most preferred platform for researchers to communicate their research work, for instance, International Journal of Surgery (6.49%), Neurosurgery Quarterly (4.54%), and Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology Metabolism (3.89%).