REGIONAL COLLABORATION IN S&T AMONG SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

Science and technology is being practiced today in a collaborative manner with participation of scientists from different disciplines, institutions and countries. To combat the problems of pollution, environment, energy, biodiversity, health, nutrition, etc., many countries in the world, particularly the developing countries, need the cooperation and support of other countries. Thus, collaboration in S&T (Science and Technology) is fast emerging as the keyword in the scientific world. Most South Asian countries and India in particular had recognized the importance of international scientific collaboration quite early and consider it as an important instrument for their development of S&T. As a result, these countries have signed a number of collaboration agreements on S&T among themselves. In this paper, a study on the outputs of S&T collaborations among South Asian countries is presented through the analysis of co-authored research papers published during the period 1992-1999 in the journals covered by the Science Citation Index. The study analyzes these collaborations from various angles, viz., nature, S&T areas, institutions involved and their impact on individual fields. It has been observed that out of the five South Asian countries - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal - India had comparatively stronger collaborative linkages with all other South Asian countries. The collaborations among Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, however, are very small. India's linkages with Bangladesh cover the major broad areas in S&T, and the co-authored papers resulting out of these collaborations had high values of impact factor. India's collaboration with other fellow South Asian countries had been quiet narrow and restricted to few subject areas. Need for further cooperation is highlighted in newly emerging areas of S&T.