Assessing Research Productivity in Agricultural Sector of Kerala: A Scientometric Approach

Assessing the research productivity of agricultural sector is crucial for its development and for shaping policies. This study focuses on evaluating the publication output in Kerala’s agricultural sector to gain insights into the region’s agricultural research performance. In Kerala, agricultural education and research are overseen by Kerala Agricultural University, which operates through various campuses and research centers across the state. The study analyzes several aspects, including the annual publication trends, preferred types of documents and languages, patterns of authorship and collaboration, leading authors, subject-wise and institution-wise productivity, preferred journals, and the applicability of bibliometric laws. Findings indicate fluctuating publication growth, with journal articles being the most common format and English as the dominant language. Collaborative research is prevalent. Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology was found to be the major research area, with the Colleges of Agriculture as leading research institution. Journal analysis revealed that the Journal of Tropical Agriculture was the most frequently used, followed by Geoderma, Genome, and Environmental Biology.