Annals of Library Science and Documentation 41, 2; 1994; 63-78.

CITATION ANALYSIS OF Ph. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ANDENGINEERING USED BY NEERI SCIENTISTS DURING 1977-1991

v. D. MADKEY*D. RAJYALAKSHMI**Department of Library & Information ScienceNagpur UniversityNagpur

A case study of citation analysis of Ph.D. thesis byNEERI scientists in the field of environmental sci-ence and engineering during 1977-1991 hasbeen carried out. The rate of submission, subject-wise distribution of thesis, ranking of source mate-rials, authorship pattern, chronological distribu-tion of journal and book citations and geographi-cal distribution of most cited journals have beendetermined. Based on the analyzed data half lifeand obsolescence of literature have been calcu-lated and conclusions are drawn.

INTRODUCTION

Citation analysis is an established research toolfor. bibliometric study for identifying the Significantsources, authorship pattern and other aggregatesof scientific activities involving the counting andanalysis of citations. Martin [1] has defined cita-tion analysis as an activity involving analysis ofcitation on reference which forms a part ofprimary scientific communication.

The present study mainly based on Ph. D thesiscopies available in National Environmental Engi-neering Research Institute (NEERI) and NagpurUniversity libraries has been carried out to analysethe citation patterns of NEERI scientists in thefield of environmental science and engineering.A total of 31 theses covering the period 1977-1991 from six broad subject areas have beenstudied.

ANAL YSED THESES

The analysed theses indicate that the first avail-able thesis is by Handa (BK) submitted in theyear 1977 and the current one pertains to theyear 1991 submitted by Alone (BZ). Parhad (NM)

appears to be the guide for maximum number oftheses figuring six, followed by Krishnamoorthi(KP) for fourtheses (Annexure 1).

RATE OF SUBMISSION OF THESES AT NEERI

Table 1 shows the total number of theses accord-ing to year of their submission. A maximum num-ber of six theses were submitted in the year 1988,

Table 1

Yearwise distribution of number of theses

Year No. of thesis

1977 11979 11980 31981 11982 21985 21986 51987 31988 61989 21990 41991 1

Total 31

followed by five in 1986, four in 1990, three theseseach in the years 1980 and 1987 and two eachin the years 1982, 1985 and 1989. There aregaps in submission of thesis during 1978, 1983and 1984.

"MUSe Student•• Contract Lecturer

Vol41 No 2 June 1994 63

V.D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

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CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING45r------------------------------------------------------,

Wo~ 25zwos 20 L---1;~~n~Jl.

35

30

15

F

A • MlcrobioloRY &BiDchegistTyB • Engineering & Technology

SUBJECT C • ZoologyD • Chemiscry

E • PhysicsF • BoCany

Fig. 2 : Subjectwise Distribution ot Research

Ranking of Source Materials

est citations are trom the journals. Out of the totalnumber of 5,466 citations, 3,662 (67%) are fromjournals (67%), followed by books, 1012(18.51%),conference proceedings/seminars/symposia! mee-tings, 583 (10.67%) and reports, 121 (2.21%.).

RANKING

The ranking of source materials shows that high-

Table 3

Number of citations by source

SI. no. Rank Source of citations No. of citations Percentage

1. 1 Journals 3662 67.002. 2 Books 1012 18.513. 3 Conference proceedings 583 10.674. 4 Reports 1~1 2.215. 5 Theses 53 0.976. 6 Standards 11 0.207. 7 Dissertations 8 0.158. 8 Technical publications 7 0.139. 9 Patents • 4 0.07

10. 10 Personal communications 3 0.0511. 11 Notes 1 0.0212. 11 Newspapers 1 0.02

Total 5466 100.00

Vol41 No 2 June1994 65

V. D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

80

70

60

J50 ..l1!c~zw 40uocw(L

30

20

10 I---

0 x

A B C

Books SOURCEA Journals BD - Reports E - Other Reading Material

D

C Conference/Proceedings

Fig. 3 : Ranking of Source Material

Rank List of Cited Journals

E

The ranked list provides unbiased data regard-ing the potentiality of journals that are useful tospecialist readers in selecting the ones more rele-vant to their field, and to keep themselves ab-reast with new developments in their specializa-

lion. This list can be used for effective selectionand acquisition in a library. The periodicals col-lection can also be divided due to space limitationor for any other reason on the basis of ranked listof periodicals. The ranked list in the field of envi-ronmental science and engineering based on thisstudy is presented in Table 4.

66 Ann Lib Sci Doc

CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Table 4

Ranked list of journals

SI.No. Rank Titles of journal Total

Citations Percentage

1. 1 Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation 210 5.732. 2 American Water Works Association Journal 136 3.713. 3 Water Research 134 3.664. 4 Biotechnology and Bio-engineering 89 2.435. 5 Journal of Environmental Quality 75 2.056. 6 Journal of Bacteriology 72 1.977. 7 Sewage and Industrial waste 64 1.758. 8 Analytical Chemistry 62 1.699. 9 Journal of Sanitary Engineering Division 61 1.67

10. 10 Hydrobiologia 57 1.5511. 11 Journal of Polymer Science 51 1.3912. 12 Applied and Environmental Microbiology 50 1.3613. 13 Water and Sewage Works 47 1.2814. 14 Applied and Environmental Microbiology 46 1.2515. 14 Indian Journal of Environmental Health 46 1.2516. 15 Journal of Fisheries Research Board of Canada 44 1.2017. 16 Journal of Biological Chemistry 41 1.1218. 16 Nature 41 1.1219.' 17 Journal of Environmental Engineering (ASCE) 37 1.0120. 17 Environmental Science and Technology 37 1.0121. 17 Transaction of American Fisheries Society 37 1.0122. 18 Environmental Pollution 33 0.9023. 19 Water Science and Technology 32 0.8724. 20 Indian Association for Water Pollution Control 31 0.85

Technical Annual25. 20 Journal of General Microbiology 31 0.8526. 21 Analytica Chemica Acta 29 0.7927. 22 Archieves of Microbiology 28 0.7628. 22 CRC Critical Review in Environmental Control 28 0.7629. 23 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and 25 0.68

Toxicology30. 23 Science 25 0.6831. 24 Biochemical Journal 24 0.6632. 24 Journal of Applied Bacteriology 24 0.6633. 25 Industrial & Engineering Chemistry 23 0.6334. 25 Water Pollution Control 23 0.6335. 26 Soil Science 21 0.5736. 27 Atomic Absorption Newsletter 20 0.5537. 27 Bacteriological Review 20 0.5538. 27 Sewage Works Journal 20 0.5539. 27 Tappi Journal 20 0.5540. 28 Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 17 0.4641. 29 Spectrochimica Acta

.,16 0.44

Contd.

Vol41 No 2 June 1994 67

V. D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

SLNo. Rank Titles of journal Total

Citations Percentage

42. 30 Applied Spectroscopy 15 0.4"43. 30 Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 15 0.4144. 30 Atmospheric Environment 15 0.4145. 30 Environmental Health India 15 0.4146. 30 Journal of Hygiene 15 0.4147. 30 Limnology and Ocenography 15 0.4148. 31 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 14 0.3849. 31 Journal of American Chemical Society 14 0.3850. 31 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 14 0.3851. 32 Annual Review of Microbiology 13 0.3552. 32 Analyst 13 0.3553. 32 Journal of Air Pollution Control Association 13 0.3554. 32 Progress in Water Technology 13 0.3555. 32 Public Works 13 0.3556. 32 Water and Waste Engineering 13 0.3557. 33 Holzforschung 12 0.3358. 33 Transaction of ASCE 12 0.3359. 34 Canadian journal of Microbiology 11 0.3060. 34 Effluent and Water Treatment Journal 11 0.3061. 34 Plant Physiology 11 0.3062. 35 Bunseki Kagaku 10 0.2763. 35 International Journal of Environmental Studies 10 0.2764. 35 Chemical Engineering Science 10 0.2765. 35 New Phytologist 10 0.2766. 35 Science of the Total Environment 10 0.2767. 35 Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 10 0.27

The journals cited more than ten times are givenin the above table. The Journal of Water PollutionControl Federation scores the highest percent-age (5.73), followed by American Water WorksAssociation Journal (3.71 %) and Water Research(3.66%).

GEOGRAPHICAL AND CHRONOLOGICALDISTRIBUTION PATTERNS

The countrywise analysis of most cited journalsindicate that out of 146 cited journals, 76 (52.05%)are from USA, followed by U.K. representing 27journals (18.49%). Cited Indian journals are 13

68

covering 8.90 percent. The distribution for othercountriesare Netherlands (6.16%), Canada (4.11%),Germany, Japan & Switzerland (2.06% each) andUSSR (1.37%) (Table 5) .

Chronological Distribution of Journal Citations

Table 6 indicates the chronological distribution ofjournal citations.

The maximum number of citations (24.82%) arecovered during the period of 1975·1979, fol-lowed by the period 1970-1974 accounting for(17.97%).

Ann Lib Sci Doc

CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Table 5

Countrywise distribution of cited journals

Name of the country No. of journals Percentage

U.S.A. 76 52.05U.K. 27 18.49India 13 8.90Netherlands 9 6.16Canada 6 4.11Germany 3 2.06Japan 3 2.06Switzerland 3 2.06USSR 2 1.37Other countries 4 2.74

Total 146 100.00

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USAUK

INDIA CANADAN'LANDS G'MANY

COUNTRYS'LAND OTHERS

Fig. 4 : Geographical Distribution of Most Cited Journals

Vol41 No 2 June 1994 69

V. D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

Table 6

Chronological distribution of journal citations

Period No. of citations Cumulative Percentage Percentage ofcitations of citation cumulative

citation

1899-1904 8 - 0.22 -1905-1909 13 21 0.36 0.571910-1914 12 33 0.33 0.901915-1919 13 46 0.35 1.261920-1924 16 62 0.44 1.691925-1929 33 95 0.90 2.591930-1934 22 117 0.60 3.191935-1939 46 163 1.26 4.451940-1944 36 199 0.98 5.431945-1949 65 264 1.77 7.211950-1954 92 356 2.51 9.721955-1959 179 535 4.89 14.611960-1964 308 843 8.41 23.021965-1969 487 1330 13.30 36.321"970-1974 658 1988 17.97 54.291975-1979 909 2897 24.82 79.101980-1984 608 3505 16.60 95.711985-1989 157 3662 4.29 100.00

Total 3662 100.00

Chronological Distribution of Book Citations 223 each (22.04%), followed by the period 1966-70 figuring 146 citations (14.43%).

Table 7 shows the chronological distribution ofbook citations. The distribution for the five yearsperiod blocks indicates that the period 1971-75and 1976-80 covers maximum citations figuring

Pre-1945 period covers 29 (2.86%). The uni-dentified citations with missing years figure 44(4.35%).

70 Ann Lib Sci Doc

CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Table 7

Chronological distribution of book citations

Period No. of Cumulative Percentage Percentagecitations citations of citations of cumulative

citations

Prior to 29 2.8619451946-50 14 43 1.38 4.251951-55 36 79 3.56 7.801956-60 55 134 5.43 13.241961-65 95 229 9.39 22.631966-70 146 375 14.43 37.061971-75 223 598 22.04 59.091976-80 223 821 22.04 81.131981-85 125 946 12.35 93.481986-90 22 968 2.17 95.65unidentified 44 1012 4.35 100.00

AUTHORSHIP PATTERN authorship, foreign author citations contributed38.99 percent while Indian authors contributed3.08 percent. Overall contribution indicates thatforeign authors percentage is 89.82, while Indianauthors percentage is 10.18.

Authorship pattern of journal citations indicatesthat out of total number of 3662 citations, 1577(43.06%) are by single author. In the single

Table 8

Authorship pattern for journal citations

No. of authors Total Percentage Foreign Percentage Indian Percentagecitations authors authors

One 1577 43.06 1464 39.99 113 3.08Joint 1055 28.81 924 25.23 131 3.58Three 637 17.40 566 15.45 71 1.94Four & above 393 10.73 335 9.15 58 1.58

3662 100.00 3289 89.82 373 10.18

Vol41 No 2 June 1994 71

V. D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

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40

35

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~~~~,:,,'~THREESINGLE THREEJOINT

AUTHORS

~ FOREIGN AUTHORS ~ INDIAN AUTHORS

Fig. 5 : Authorship Pattern for Journal Citations

The following table indicates the authorshippattern of book citations. A comparative state-

ment of Indian and foreign authorship pattern hasbeen shown.

Table 9

Authorship pattern for book citations

No. of Total Percentage Foreign Percentage Indian Percentageauthors citations authors authors

One 515 50.89 491 48.52 24 2.37Joint 234 23.12 217 21.44 17 1.68Corporate 147 14.53 119 11.76 28 2.77

BodiesThree 67 6.62 63 6.62 4 0.40More than 49 4.84 49 4.84 - -Three

Total 1012 100.00 939 92.78 73 7.22

72 Ann Lib Sci Doc

CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

The findings show that highest citations are bysingle author. Out of 1,012 total citations, 515citations (50.89%) are by single author. In thesingle authorship pattern, the foreign authors

contribution is491 (48.52). In general, the foreignauthors contribute 92.78 percent while Indianauthors contribute 7.22 percent.

60 r-------------------------------------------------------------,

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20

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oSINGLE THREE

r:X9:«,ffff//1>THREE COR.BODY

AUTHORS

~ FOREIGN AUTHORS ~ INDIAN AUTHORS

Fig. 6 : Authorship Pattern for Book Citations

HALF LIFE AND OBSOLESCENCE

Analysis of citations by age of the cited docu-ments can indicate the useful life of documents.This useful life has also been called as the half lifeof periodicals, sometimes expressed as the rateof obsolescence [2J. Half life denotes the timeduring which half of the currently active literature

Vol41 No 2 June 1994

was published. Obsolescence is due processwhereby materials become no longer useful orreliable. The half life of literature is the number ofyears retrospectively needed to satisfy half of allthe requests for literature on the subject, or toattract half of all the citations made to this litera-ture in current years [3J.

73

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V. D. MADKEYand D. RAJYALAKSHMI

Half LIfe Period of Journal and Book Citations

To find out the half life of journal citations, thegraph is plotted taking the period of years at theinterval of five years at X axis and cumulativenumber of citations at Y axis. A line parallel fromY axis is drawn from point A to meet the curve at

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

point B. Point A represents the half of total cita-tions. Then, a perpendicular (BC) line is drawnfrom the point B to meet X axis at point C, (OC)represents the half life period for journal citations,which is 17 years. Similarly, the half life period ofbooks (OC) is 18 years range.

PERIOD OF YEAP.S

5 10 15'20 25 30 J5 40 .5 50 55 60 £5 70 75 eo es 90

Fig. 7 : Half Life Period of Journal Citations

~/~

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0.9

)5 0.6"~ 0.7U...•~ ~ 0.60"z ,w,g C.5"s"t:.

0.4

"3 C.30.2

o.

10 15 C 20

PERIO~ OF YEt.F!.S

25 30 35 40 50

Fig. 8 : Half Life Period of Book Citations

CONCLUSION

The study indicates that the most concentratedsubject area for research is microbiology andbiochemistry (41.94%), followed by engineering& technology (25.81%).

74

Citation pattern of source documents revealsthat journal citations have been quoted more innumber (67%),which shows not only their impor-tance in communicating scholarly literature butalso dependency of scientists on journals fortheir research work. Books and conference

Ann Lib Sci Doc

CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEER/NG

proceedings accounting 18.51% and 10.67%respectively show their relative importance inresearch work.

The Journal of Water Pollution Control Federationis the most cited journal (5.73%), representingits research potentiality in environmental scien-tist's citations.

Authorship pattern for journal citations showsthat most of the citations are contributed bysingle author (43.06%) and went on decreasingby two & more authors. Book citations are con-tributed mostly by single author (50.89%) andwent on decreasing for two & more. Foreignauthor's contribution is observed to be dominantin all the authorship pattern. This means themajor proportion of research output used for ci-tations is generated mostly by solo researchwork, followed by two & more and contributedmostly by foreign authors.

Geographical distribution ot most cited journalsshow that USA has contributed 52.05% ofliterature. The distribution of journal citationsseems to be more during the period 1975-79(24.82%). Distribution of book citations seems to

Vol41 No 2 June 1994

be more during the period 1971-75 & 1976-80(22.04%each),

The half life period tor journal and book citationsis observed to be of average of 17 and 18 yearsrespectively.

The results ot the study would be useful to theusers of literature of environmental science andengineering and organizers ot information forplanning and managing the information sourcesand services.

REFERENCES

1. MARTIN(J). An examination of citationindexes.ASLIB Proc. 17,2; 1967;185-96.

2. GUHA(B). Useof citations. In Documen-tation and information services: tech-niques and systems. 1983. World Press;Calcutta, p. 257-82.

3. KENT (A) Ed. Encyclopaedia of libraryand information science. 1987. MarcelDecker; New York. V.2. p. 190-99.

75

V.D. MAnKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

Chronological listing of ana/ysed theses

Annexure 1

Sr. No. Title of the thesis Awardee'sname

Submission Guideyear

1. A study of extended aerationprocess for treatment of waste-water.

2. Utilization of bagasse for theproduction of single cell protein

3. Microbial degradation of phenolin phenol bearing industrial wastes

Handa (BK) 1977 Arceivala (SJ)

Joshi (SR) 1979 Parhad (NM)

Kumaran (P) 1980 Parhad (NM)

4. Toxicity studies of some chlorinated Satyanarayana (S) 1980hydrocarbons and their effect on fish

5. Microbial degradation of cyanide incyanide bearing wastes.

6. Plant responses to sulphur dioxideand hydrogen fluoride air pollution.

7. Studies on anaerobic digestionprocess as applied to organicmatter in presence of someadditives.

8. Benthic fauna in relation to waterquality of some water bodies atNagpur.

9. Studies on biOdegradation of someorganic compounds discharqedfrom organic chemical industriesin acquious system

10. Effect of chemical nature of claysand their role in coagulation

11. Anaerobic contact upflow reactorfor the treatment of distillery waste

12. Effect of sewage and sludge appli-cation on some enzyme activitiesand trace metal uptake in cropsinfluencing their growth and yield

Sivaraman (N) 1980

Sharma (HC) 1981

Wate (SR) 1982

Sarkar (R) 1982

Oeshpande(SO) 1985

Thergaonkar (VP) 1985

Badrinath (SO) 1986

Krishnamoorthi (KP)

Parhad (NM)

Rao (ON)

Subrahmanyam(PVR)

Krishnamoorthi (KP)

Chakrabarti (T)

Thakre (OB)

Kaul (SN)

Subrahmanyam(PVR)

76

Chakrabarti (C) 1986

Contd.

Ann Lib Sci Doc

· CITATION ANALYSIS OF PH. D. THESIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIElVCEAND ENGINEERING

Sr. No. GuideTitle of the thesis Submissionyear

Awardee'sname

13. Rationalization of approach to Chalapati Rao 1986 Bhole (AG)high rate settler design

14. Bioconversion of and cellulosicsludge from Parhad (NM) pulpand paper mill into fungalbiomass

Sandhy (S) 1986 Joshi (SR)

Deshmukh (BT)

Ingle (RN)

Bhole (AG)

Parhad (NM) &Kumaran (P)

Kaul (SN) &Bhole (AG)

Krishnamoorthi (KP)

Oeshmukh (B1)

Chakrabarti (l)

Sundaresan (BB)

Parhad (NM)

Bhale (AG) &Kaul (SN)

15. Atomic absorption specttrophoto-metric studies in environment

1986Animeshkumar

16. Reliability analysis of pumpingsystem

Oeshpande (AW) 1987

17. Role of rapid mix in the process Mhaisalkar CJA) 1987of flocculation

18. Biological stabilization of coal Pandey (RA) 1987carbonisation waste

19. Studies on fluidised bed system Gadkari (SI

V. D. MADKEY and D. RAJYALAKSHMI

Sr. No. Title of the thesis Awardee's Submission Guidename year

26. Heavy metal toxicity in aquatic Aay (0) 1989 Banerjee (SK) &environment Chatterjee (MK)

27. Studies on fate of intestinal parasite Bhoyar (AV) 1990 Krishnamoorthi (KP)during aerobic and anaerobiccomposting

28. Studies on microbiological decolou- Outta (SA) 1990 Joshi (SA)rization of lignin bearing waste water

29. Physico chemical studies of pyrolysis Aamteke (OS) 1990 Pandya (GH)product from industrial waste

30. Microbiology of toxic waste treatment Paruchuri (YL) 1990 Kumaran (P)with special reference to wastewaterfrom coal corbonisation industries

31. Identification and characterization Alone (BZ) 1991 Pandya (GH)of trace metals in the environment

78 Ann Lib Sci Doc