Eight Indian scientists, including two from Chandigarh, have been honoured with their inclusion it a recently released global list of "Highly Cited Researchers." However, the Indian performance pales in comparison with China, who has a whopping 163 scientists in the list which features top researchers from 21 fields.

The list, which represents some of world's leading scientific minds, includes over 3,000 researchers whose work is among the top 1% most cited work in their respective subjects. Regarded as a measure of work impact of these scientists, the list is dominated by the United States, which has more than half the entries. India's performance is, however, at par with other BRICS partners. Brazil has five researchers in the elite group, while Russia has eight. On the other hand, 11 researchers from South Africa make it to the global list.

India also falls behind other East Asian countries like Japan with 102, South Korea with 25 and Singapore with 11 scientists. Iran has 11 entries, but it is Saudi Arabia which stuns everyone with 180 listings.

The majority of the 180 researchers associated with Saudi Arabia are not primarily working in Saudi Universities, since 150 of them mention Saudi Arabia as their secondary affiliation. Only 30 scientists of the 180 have Saudi Arabia has their primary affiliation, and the remaining 150 are scientists who primarily work in other universities, but are engaged in partnerships and collaborations with universities in Saudi Arabia. Still, Saudi Arabia is way ahead of India.

Indian performance is clearly way ahead of other SAARC countries, with only Pakistan's Tasawar Hayat being listed in mathematics and engineering. In both cases, Quaid-I-Azam University, Pakistan, is his secondary affiliation, while King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, is his primary affiliation. Besides India and Pakistan, no researcher from universities and institutes in SAARC countries find a mention.

From India, Bharat Ratna awardee C N R Rao is among the select scientists who are quoted twice in the list, featuring in two categories of chemistry and material science. Rao, who works at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, is joined by his colleague Ujjal K Gautam who is listed for material science. JNCASR is the only Institute from India which has two scientists in this elite list.

From Chandigarh, Gajendra Pal Singh Raghava of Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Sector 39, and V R Sinha from Panjab University (PU) have earned a place. While Raghava is featured in the field of computer science, Sinha is India's entry in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Raghava obtained his doctorate from PU, which adds another feather to the university's cap.

Two Indian scientists also make it in the field of engineering. This includes Vinod Kumar Gupta from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. Gupta's work at IIT is in collaboration with the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. The second Indian in the field of engineering is Dinesh Mohan of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Rajeev K Varshney from International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, finds a place in the field of plant and animal sciences. ICRISAT is mentioned as the secondary affiliation, with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico being the primary affiliation for Varshney's research. The other scientist in the global list includes R N Tharanathan of the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore, in the category of agricultural sciences.

Panjab University and Jawaharlal Nehru University are the only two universities which feature in this list, with the other five being institutes. Both CFTRI and IMTECH are CSIR bodies, while JNCASR was established by the department of science and technology, and is a deemed university. IITs are autonomous institutes, and ICRISAT falls under the global CGIAR centres.

