(13 May 2015) Representatives from AAAS/Science were recently in India with the aim of promoting Science and research in India. 
Mr. Tom Ryan (Director), Ms. Eileen Bernadette Moran (Director, Corporate Relations) and Ms. Kiki Forsythe (Senior Publisher Relations Specialists) first attended the 11th Annual Meet & Workshop of INDEST-AICTE Consortium held at IISER Mohali from April 29th -30th, 2015. AAAS were the Gold Sponsors for the event and with attendees from major institutes, it was a good opportunity for AAAS to interact with librarians and faculty member from prominent institutes.
Back in New Delhi, they held a seminar on: “Advancing Science in India: Building Momentum. Promoting Research” in collaboration with iGroup Infotech India. This was held on 1st May, 2015 and attended by over 50 librarians and researchers not just from Delhi, but other nearby states as well. Mr. Subrata Sinha (Director, NBRC) had graciously accepted to be the Chief Guest for the seminar.
The seminar highlighted the correlation between top universities/institutes who subscribe to major journals (like Science) and their rankings. The higher the institute/university was ranked, the more likely they were to be subscribers of major journals. AAAS also discussed India’s significant contribution to the field of science in the past, which is in stark contrast to the decreasing number of Science articles with Indian authors.
India’s research productivity continues to increase; so much so that Thomson Reuters estimates that it will be on par with most G8 nations within 7 to 8 years and could overtake them between 2015 and 2020. Yet, in order to continue to produce meaningful and insightful research and keep up with the cutting edge developments coming from rest of the world, India’s students, faculty, and research scientists need to have access to the most current and influential scientific literature. It was this that AAAS emphasized and spoke about the opportunities that lay ahead, and the impact its journals can have on India’s future research and rankings.
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