Scholarly efforts of Indian Space Research Organisation during 2002-2021: Mapping and Visualization

Abstract

Indian Space Research Organisation is a leading agency in space research. It supports India's aim to become self-reliant in space technology. Our study explores ISRO research activity, especially in the 21st century. In this view, 2002-2021 were selected for bibliometric and visualization analysis of ISRO research. This study examines 12192 bibliographic data in CSV format and 2000 most cited publications metadata in RIS format downloaded from the Scopus database as of December 2021. The VOS viewer software is used for bibliometric analysis and citespace software for cluster analysis. The study aims to know the research growth of ISRO, authorship pattern, Activity Index, author networks, keywords visualization, and cluster analysis. The finding shows that ISRO research growth follows the non-linear trend. The most productive year was noted in 2021 in terms of publication. The highest activity and relative quality index analysis show that ISRO needs to accelerate research. Among authors of ISRO, Moorthy, KK has the highest quality publications, citations, and Total Link Strength. The most cited article published by B. Abbott on binary neutron stars has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letter. Other most cited articles related to aerosol, biomimetics, visual object tracking, climate change, satellite imaging, global cropland, etc. Study shows that ISRO authors prefer the Taylor and Francis journal for their research publication. The Space physics laboratory is the highest productive institute for ISRO. The United States of America and the UK are the most collaborative country for ISRO. The keyword cluster shows that cross-linking, graphene, synthesis, tensile strength, and particle size are the most crucial cluster where India, remote sensing, and Asia are the highest occurred keywords. The study has explored the ISRO research activity and provides an essential overview and stimulating information for researchers who are willing to know the output of ISRO.