India in the Open Science Era: a Bibliometric Insight into Two Decades of Open Access Publishing

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of Open Access (OA) publishing landscape of India from 2004 to 2024, reflecting the growing engagement of the nation with the global Open Science movement. Using data retrieved from the Scopus database, 2,302 publications were examined to assess trends in research productivity, impact, collaboration, and institutional contributions. Analytical tools including Bibliometrix and VOS viewer were employed to evaluate citation metrics, author networks, international partnerships, and source impact. Findings revealed a steady annual growth rate of 11.02%, with a notable surge in publication post-2008, indicating policy-driven momentum and digital infrastructure enhancement. The study highlighted significant contributions from institutions such as the University of Kashmir, AIIMS and IITs. Further, prolific authors such as Kumar A and Sharma A. were identified. International collaborations, especially with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, were found to enhance citation impact. High-impact journals such as PLOS ONE and Journal of Insect Science emerged as leading publication platforms. The thematic analysis underscored interdisciplinary growth across health sciences, engineering, and environmental studies. While the data showed increased visibility and quality of India OA research, challenges remained in terms of publishing ethics, predatory journals, and uneven disciplinary engagement. The study findings provide actionable insights for policymakers, researchers, and institutions to strengthen India’s open access ecosystem and global research visibility.