To read this content please select one of the options below:

Exploring the research landscape in a developing country: gauging the prospects of growth, research impact and innovation

Saira Hanif Soroya (Department of Health and Clinical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA)
Sehrish Iqbal (Department of Data Science and AI, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)
Khalid Mahmood (Institute of Information Management, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan)
Naif Radi Aljohani (Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Saeed-Ul Hassan (Department of Computing and Mathematics, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK)
Raheel Nawaz (Staffordshire University, Stoke-On-Trent, UK)

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy

ISSN: 1750-6166

Article publication date: 5 August 2022

Issue publication date: 18 October 2022

108

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide guidelines for exploring the research landscape in developing countries by gauging the prospects of growth, research impact and innovation. This study interrogates, analyses and visualizes the impact, nuances and evolution of stated research themes. For this purpose, this study presents an in-depth analysis of publications and citations indexed in Pakistani journals as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

A bibliometric analysis of 46,034 publications published in Pakistan-based journals uncovers the research landscape of Scopus-indexed scientific literature – using various statistical and network-based approaches. Using VOSviewer and SPSS tools, the publication data has been analysed in relation to the open access status of papers, the number of authors, discipline, research theme and international co-authorship.

Findings

This study’s analyses reveal that while Pakistani journals are attracting international contributions from several countries, including India, Malaysia and Indonesia, no journal falls into the Scopus-defined top Quartile, i.e. the Q1 category. The analyses also highlight that only half (47%) of the publications received citations, whereas the other half remained uncited. Furthermore, open access publications received significantly higher citations than subscribed/traditional publications (print/online subject to toll access).

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first impact study of its kind that critically analyses the research landscape of Pakistani journals, especially in the context of the efforts of the higher education commission of Pakistan to promote research culture in the country. This study also provides analytical insights and policy guidelines for improving the quality of research published in Pakistani journals. This study can be replicated for other developing nations to provide guidelines and sustainable pathways for scientific growth in pursuit of uplifting nations by allocating resources for developing science and technology.

Keywords

Citation

Soroya, S.H., Iqbal, S., Mahmood, K., Aljohani, N.R., Hassan, S.-U. and Nawaz, R. (2022), "Exploring the research landscape in a developing country: gauging the prospects of growth, research impact and innovation", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 567-581. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-05-2022-0071

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles