Citation Trend of Indian Physics and Astronomy Research during 2005-2020 through the Lens of Some New Indicators

Abstract

The indicator Citation Swing Factor (CSF) has recently been developed to quantitatively measure the diffusion process from h-core zone to h-core excess zone. This paper calculated CSF for Indian physics and astronomy research output appeared in selective Indian journals since 2005 to 2020. The theoretical values of CSF are also calculated on the basis of its fundamental equation and same was compared it with the respective observed values. The average error over entire time span is found 2.26 per cent indicating close proximity between theoretically expected and practically observed values. Besides, three other scientometric indicators are introduced here, viz. Time-Normalised Total Cited Ratio (TC), Time-Normalised Cited Uncited Ratio (CU) and Time-Normalised Total Uncited Ratio (TU). Of these four indicators, the variation of TC is highest (1.76), followed by TU (0.53), CU (0.37) and CSF(E) (0.09), as evident from the values of respective Coefficients of Variations. The numerical values of these indicators are found out for the same sample and the temporal variations along with their mutual interrelationships are determined by regression analysis. It is observed that the three indicators, TC, CU and TU are mutually interrelated through the following linear regression equations, i.e. TC =-0.76 + 1.88*TU and CU =-0.201 + 0.34*TU.