Scientific research trends across different countries
‘Coronavirus’ was the most published research topic in the world in the last five years and in the last two decades
‘Coronavirus’ was the most researched topic in India in the last five years and among the top five research topics in the last two decades.
It was the most published research topic in the U.S. over the last five years and in the last two decades.
But it was conspicuously absent from China’s top research topics
Some of the other topics that are widely researched are deep learning, and clean and green energy topics such as photocatalysis, supercapacitors, and oxygen reduction reactions.
Deep learning refers to a class of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms characterised by the use of multiple ‘layers’, where each layer transforms and/or manipulates the input data in specific ways.
Engineers have built facial recognition on phones, speech recognition in digital assistants, and recommendation engines on streaming services using deep learning.
Chinese researchers have produced more than twice as many papers on the topic of AI as have researchers in the U.S., and more than 45% of the world’s research output on this subject in the last five years.
India’s share remains low even if the topic features among the country’s top five
Photocatalysis refers to the acceleration of chemical reactions using light.
Scientists are studying it to make new materials and generate clean energy; a particularly important contemporary focus area is green hydrogen.
Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that trap and hold energy as electrostatic charge.
Supercapacitors are super-powered batteries that can store much more energy and also release it faster.
Their applications include electric vehicles, where fast charging is required, and the renewable energy sector.
The oxygen reduction reaction is an important process in electrochemistry with a starring role in next-generation energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries.
Research on these topics is evidently driven by researchers in China
The single largest fraction of India’s research output is focused on nanotechnology.
In particular, nanofluids have applications in heat transfer;
silver nanoparticles have applications in antimicrobial and anticancer therapy; and
zinc oxide nanoparticles are essential semiconductor materials with applications in electronics, optoelectronics, ceramics, and cosmetics.
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