The entrance of Utkal University. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 10: Utkal University has been ranked second in the country among all state-run universities as it has contributed the highest number of research papers with over 100 citations.

The rankings have been made by the prestigious Indian Academy of Sciences and appears in its publication titled “Current Sciences: Volume 99”.

The publication contains an analysis of research papers published by Chinese and Indian researchers between 1998 and 2007 and cited at least 100 times by end of 2009. The write-up also includes the list of papers with 100 or more citations distributed by institutions in the country. Utkal University’s name is mentioned here.

Second only to Punjab University in Chandigarh, the premier state university has contributed 10 papers and 2,294 citations. There are 229.4 cites per paper and 10 papers. More than 100 authors have made contributions. Although the papers have been contributed from various streams, they are mostly papers on the subject high-energy physics.

Punjab University has contributed 40 papers with a total of 7,312 citations.

While cites per paper is 182.8, the number of papers with more than 100 authors is 29. Punjab University and Utkal University are followed by University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and University of Jammu. nIts quite an achievement. There are around 500 state universities and coming second is not a small accomplishment. It shows that the quality of research output this university has is definitely good. The quality of the faculty and quality of student input also deserve credit,” said an elated S Jena, in-charge of research and development, Utkal University.

“More collaborative research, creation of more advanced laboratories, better infrastructure for research and better quality of student inputs can help the university perform even better,” Jena said.

According to the publication, China had published 98,329 papers during 1998-2007, while for India the corresponding figure was only 35,953. Similarly, at least 72 papers from China were published in top journals such as Nature while only 28 papers from India were published in Nature during the same period.

The journal Science published 81 papers from China while only 16 were from India during the same period. This shows a distinct need for more research work in the country.

Buoyed by recent successes, efforts are being made to improve the quality of laboratory equipment and filling up of vacant faculty posts at the Utkal University.

University authorities will soon come up with advertisements to fill 68 posts by the end of this month.