Gangan Prathap - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Gangan Prathap

We offer a different perspective of how quantity and quality of impact from scientific collaborat... more We offer a different perspective of how quantity and quality of impact from scientific collaboration is shared between an institution and its direct collaborators using common bibliometric measures. The CWTS Leiden data gives size-dependent measures like number of publications and highly-cited publications and a size-independent measure of quality of impact The number of publications and highly-cited publications combine additively while the impact measure combines in a weighted way. The relationships are presented in the form of two-dimensional graphs and they reveal a pyramidal or inverted funnel dispersion. Examples are given to illustrate the use of data and methodology and typical results for a few comparator countries are shown.

Current Science, 2016

We propose a framework score to see how Indian universities and research-focused institutions far... more We propose a framework score to see how Indian universities and research-focused institutions fare in the world of high-end research in terms of excellence and diversity of their research base. For this we use a web application available in the public domain which visualizes scientific excellence worldwide in several subject areas. Only in 15 subject areas does India have a presence among global institutions in the 22 areas in which there are at least 50 institutes globally that have published more than 500 papers. The country has no institution which can be counted globally in seven areas: arts and humanities; business, management and accounting; health professions; neuroscience; nursing; psychology, and social sciences. India's research base is completely skewed towards the physical sciences and engineering with very little for biological sciences and medicine, and virtually none in social sciences, and arts and humanities when excellence at the highest level is considered.

Letter to the editor: comments on the paper of Aparna Basu et al.: designing a composite index for research performance evaluation at the national or regional level: ranking central universities in India

Scientometrics, Jun 15, 2016

In this discussion we show that the significance of the cubic relationship observed in Basu et al... more In this discussion we show that the significance of the cubic relationship observed in Basu et al. (Scientometrics, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11192-016-1935-0) can be explained simply—QQCI is a proxy for the normalized form of the exergy term X = (TC2/TP) and so the relationship seen in Nishy et al. (Scientometrics 91(1):245–251, 2012) is just confirmed. The original data is reworked to show explicitly the values of X and h3 and using a correlation test it is shown that there is remarkable agreement between X and h3.

Scientometrics, Oct 24, 2018

In this discussion we prepare performance trajectories using CWTS Leiden 2018 data to show that l... more In this discussion we prepare performance trajectories using CWTS Leiden 2018 data to show that leading research universities in the EU members from the post-communist grouping still lag considerably behind developed EU-15 members of comparable size.

A new journal power-weakness ratio to measure journal impact

Scientometrics, Sep 24, 2021

Payback for M Techs

Current Science, Jul 10, 2020

“Dare to Shine” at FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019

36-37After 52 matches to determine top 4 teams, who shone brightest in FIFA Women’s World Cup 201... more 36-37After 52 matches to determine top 4 teams, who shone brightest in FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019? Understanding the measures to determine quality of performance of teams

Current Science, Aug 10, 2016

CWUR Subject Rankings 2017

Current Science, Mar 25, 2018

Current Science, Jan 10, 2018

ATHEMATICIANS can play subtle games with what are called networks and graphs. They often use soph... more ATHEMATICIANS can play subtle games with what are called networks and graphs. They often use sophisticated algorithms to determine the " best ", when the " best " is not so obvious. Google's PageRank does precisely this-out of the millions of links that criss-cross billions of pages, they have algorithms that determine in a wink the best link for your search term. We shall use just that sort of technique to see if indeed the " best " team won at the recently concluded IPL-IV season. Last year, in the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, only eight teams took part. The teams met each other twice in what is called a double round-robin tournament. This meant a total of 56 matches at this stage of the season.

Once again, Radicchi uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine the "best", when the "best" is n... more Once again, Radicchi uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine the "best", when the "best" is not so obvious, just as I did earlier in these pages to consider if indeed the "best" team won at the recently concluded IPL-IV season (Science Reporter, July 2011). However, Radicchi's problem is far more difficult. In IPL-IV, all teams met directly, and the iterative recursive algorithm could easily be implemented to determine the best team.

Current Science, Sep 15, 2015

We carried out a research performance analysis of leading higher education institutions in Malays... more We carried out a research performance analysis of leading higher education institutions in Malaysia using bibliometric data from the latest (2014) release of the Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR). We tracked the complete performance chain: input-output-excellence-outcome-productivity using indicators that represent quantity, quality and productivity dimensions. The quantity dimensions are size-dependent, whereas the quality and productivity dimensions are sizeindependent. The largest active institutions, the most productive institutions and the fastest improving institutions over the period 2009-2014 were also identified.

Current Science, Aug 1, 2018

Current Science, Oct 10, 2017

We perform a comparative end-to-end research evaluation of leading engineering institutions in In... more We perform a comparative end-to-end research evaluation of leading engineering institutions in India separating out the bibliometric part of the chain from the econometric part. This combines size-dependent and size-independent terms based on quantity and quality (impact) in a meaningful way. Output or outcome at the bibliometric level is measured using a second-order composite indicator, and the productivity or efficiency terms follow accordingly using the input to output or outcome factors. Data are taken from the recent release of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2017 in the public domain. Thus, the ranking based on NIRF scores of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras as the best engineering institution in India is too simplistic a conclusion.

Current Science, 2016

Scientometrics, Jun 15, 2016

Scientometrics, Oct 24, 2018

A new journal power-weakness ratio to measure journal impact

Scientometrics, Sep 24, 2021

Payback for M Techs

Current Science, Jul 10, 2020

“Dare to Shine” at FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019

Current Science, Aug 10, 2016

CWUR Subject Rankings 2017

Current Science, Mar 25, 2018

Current Science, Jan 10, 2018

Current Science, Sep 15, 2015

Current Science, Aug 1, 2018

Current Science, Oct 10, 2017

A graph theoretic approach from social network analysis allows size-dependent and size-independen... more A graph theoretic approach from social network analysis allows size-dependent and size-independent bibliometric indicators to be identified from what is called the citation matrix. In an input-output sense, the number of references becomes the size-dependent measure of the input and the number of citations received by the journal from all journals in the network becomes the size-dependent measure of the output. However, in this paper, we are interested to compare two size-independent dimensionless indicators: the Pinski-Narin Influence Weight (IW) and the Ramanujacharyulu Power-Weakness Ratio (PWR). These are proxies for the quality of the journal’s performance in the network. We show that at the non-recursive level, the two indicators are identical. At this stage these are simply measures of popularity. After recursion (i.e. repeated improvement or iteration) these become network measures of prestige of the journals. PWR is computed as a ratio of terms in the weighted citations vector and weighted references vector after the power and weakness matrices are separately recursively iterated. The Pinski-Narin procedure computes a matrix of ratios first and evaluates the IW after recursive iteration of this matrix of ratios. In this sense, the two procedures differ just like the RoA (ratio of averages) and the AoR (Average of Ratios) ways of computing relative citation indicators.

We illustrate the concepts using datasets from subgraphs of 10 statistical journals and 14 Chinese chemistry journals with network data collected from the Web of Science. We are also able to show the confounding effects when self-citations are taken into account.

A three-dimensional framework to see how Indian universities and research-focused institutions fa... more A three-dimensional framework to see how Indian universities and research-focused institutions fare in the world of high end research in terms of excellence and diversity of its research base.

At the country level we break down scholarly performance into three components –

Size,
Excellence,
Balance or Evenness

A brief history of the least action principle

Social inclusion is about reducing inequalities between the least advantaged groups and communiti... more Social inclusion is about reducing inequalities between the least advantaged groups and communities and the rest of society by closing the opportunity gap and ensuring that support reaches those who need it most. Lorenz curve showing line of perfect equality and curves where there is significantly different levels of inequality but the Gini index is identical. Jost, L. (2010). The Relation between Evenness and Diversity. Diversity, 2, 207-232. Simpson, E. H. (1949). Measurement of diversity. Nature, 688, 163.

Science is a socio-cultural activity that is highly disciplined and easily quantifiable.

Science grew out of accurate measurements ± Galileo ¶s experiments on the bending of beams 2 nd P... more Science grew out of accurate measurements ± Galileo ¶s experiments on the bending of beams 2 nd Paradigm: Theoretical Science Models are created to give a conceptual descriptive framework for the data from such measurements. Mathematical models are then developed to summarise these, and to used as a predictive tool. The elementary theory of bending: Euler and Bernoulli 3 rd Paradigm: Computational Science Where these are not tractable, numerical, followed by computational models are employed.

We rank the teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2... more We rank the teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle using Ramanujacharyulu's Power-Weakness Difference ratio.

UEFA Champions League 2024/25 seen from a goals-based graph theory perspective.

We collate data from the latest AISHE Report regarding PhDs enrolled and passing out and the Gros... more We collate data from the latest AISHE Report regarding PhDs enrolled and passing out and the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of various states and union territories to compute primary and composite indicators that show how well they are preparing for a knowledge economy. The "Revealed" Comparative Advantage (RCA) of Balassa is used to evaluate the comparative or competitive advantage of the various comparators. The Balassa index serves as a proxy for intensity or quality of the activity, against GSDP baselines. We use this to visualize the patterns and order the comparators using quantity-quality maps and Lorenz curve representations. Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Sikkim are well endowed with institutions where relative to the GSDP, a large number of PhDs have opportunities to conduct research. Among the large states, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Delhi lead prominently, while Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat, which traditionally lead the economic, industrial, and digital economy sectors are seen as laggards when it comes to enrolling and producing PhDs relative to their respective GSDPs. For annual out-turn of PhDs, Kerala moves up the rankings and joins Delhi as a large state with good performance relative to GSDP.

A 4-parameter performance evaluation places Wayanad as the best performing district in the latest... more A 4-parameter performance evaluation places Wayanad as the best performing district in the latest edition of the Kerala Kalolsavam

A four parameter theory of performance is used to evaluate the best wicket-takers in test cricket.

The 51st and final match of Euro 2024 was played on 14 July 2024 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin.... more The 51st and final match of Euro 2024 was played on 14 July 2024 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin. Spain, unbeaten in all their 7 matches and inarguably the best team in the tournament, beat England 2-1. Euro 2024 saw 24 teams play a total of 51 matches starting from 14 June to 14 July 2024. Of these, 36 matches were played in a round-robin stage, with four teams each in six groups for a total of 36 matches. Sixteen teams qualified for the knock-out stage: 8 matches in the round of 16, 4 matches in the quarter-finals, two more in the semi-finals and a grand final to determine the top team.

At the end of the day, a total of 117 goals were scored, discounting the goals in the penalty shoot-outs. More than 50 years ago, an Indian mathematician named Ramanujacharyulu (C. Ramanujacharyulu, Analysis of preferential experiments, Psychometrika, 3 (1964), pp. 257-261) introduced a protocol which allows us to reconcile the results of a group of teams and their matches playing a tournament, and choose the winner, or rank them in an order. Each team meets the other team (the paired comparison) once or several times and registers a result each time – a win, a tie or draw, or a loss. That is each of the matches is considered to be an experiment, and the result, an expressed preference for one team over the other. With this knowledge, we can construct the tournament matrices based on the actual goals scored and conceded. This tournament metaphor can be used to evaluate the rankings at the end of the tournament, even if each team has not met the other even once, as is the case here.

The 48 th edition of the 2024 Copa America concluded on July 14, 2024. In the 32 nd and final mat... more The 48 th edition of the 2024 Copa America concluded on July 14, 2024. In the 32 nd and final match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Maimi Gardens, Florida, Argentina won a record 16 th title beating Colombia 1-0 in a match that went into extra time. They were unbeaten having won 5 matches and being held to a 1-1 draw by Ecuador in a quarterfinal match. From June 20 to July 14, 16 teams played a total of 32 matches. Of these, 24 matches were played in a roundrobin stage, with four teams each in four groups. Eight teams qualified for the knockout stage: 4 matches in the quarter-finals, two more in the semifinals , a match for third and fourth places, and the final to determine the top team.

The Premier League 2023-24 came to an end on 19 May 2024. The twenty teams played each other twic... more The Premier League 2023-24 came to an end on 19 May 2024. The twenty teams played each other twice for a total of 380 matches and a total of 1246 goals were scored. Since each win counted for 3 points and a draw gave a point each to the teams concerned, Manchester City won the tournament with 91 points, just two ahead of Arsenal. Note that whatever the scoreline, 1-0 or 7-0, a win counts as 3-0. Similarly, a 0-0 or 5-5 draw will count as 1-1. So, what if a goal-based scoring system were to have been adopted: Would City have ranked at the top?

A Theory of Performance (ToP) analysis shows that the real winner of Kerala Kalolsavam 2024 was W... more A Theory of Performance (ToP) analysis shows that the real winner of Kerala Kalolsavam 2024 was Wayanad.

The Hindi Heartland (also known as the Hindi Belt) comprises several states whose lingua franca i... more The Hindi Heartland (also known as the Hindi Belt) comprises several states whose lingua franca is Hindi. For quite some time now, the electoral mandate in these states has been dominated by caste-based politics, and this seems to have continued in the three states, namely Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, that went to the polls recently.

The Hindu reported on the social basis of voting in these states:

Chhattisgarh - (Sandeep Shastri, Sanjay Kumar, and Suhas Palshikar, In Chhattisgarh, lack of jobs, price rise, and corruption bring down Congress government, Friday, December 8, 2023)

Madhya Pradesh - (Sanjay Kumar, Suhas Palshikar, Yatindar Singh Sisodia, and Sandeep Shastri, How BJP worked to retain Madhya Pradesh, Thursday, December 7, 2023)

Rajasthan - (Sanjay Lodha, Sandeep Shastri, Suhas Palshikar, and Sanjay Kumar, Why the Congress lost Rajasthan, Wednesday, December 6, 2023).

These three reports, as well as a fourth on Telangana (not discussed here), used data from the Lokniti-CSDS post-poll surveys. The analyses were accompanied by well curated tabular results. All intersections were considered (age demographics, gender, educational levels, rural-urban divide, economic levels, and of course, caste). In each case, the consideration was mainly about how the various categories voted differentially for various major political parties and their alliances. However, in what follows, we shall only look at how caste identity groups have voted differentially in these elections.

In this article, I borrow ideas from econometrics to show that the presentation can be made graphically more appealing, and cognitively more meaningful, by using the Lorenz curve. I also introduce two new measures of polarization – a Leverage term of Polarization (LoP) and an Index of Polarization (IoP), and use a well know cosine measure of similarity, as single number measures of the extent and direction of polarization. Also, the difference in directions of polarization between two groups for a given party can be measured using a cosine similarity measure.

The Hindu reported on the social basis of voting (Sandeep Shastri, Suhas Palshikar, Sanjay Kumar,... more The Hindu reported on the social basis of voting (Sandeep Shastri, Suhas Palshikar, Sanjay Kumar, and Vageeshan Harathi, Winds of Change in Telangana, Tuesday, December 5, 2023) using data from the Lokniti-CSDS post-poll survey. The analysis is accompanied by well curated tabular results. The consideration is mainly about how identity and pressure groups have voted differentially for the various political alliances.

In this article, I borrow ideas from econometrics to show that the presentation can be made graphically more appealing, and cognitively more meaningful, by using the Lorenz curve. I also introduce two new measures of polarization – a Leverage term and an Index of Polarization. Also, the difference in directions of polarization between two groups for a given party can be measured using a cosine similarity measure.

We use graph theoretical arguments to show that India was the best team in 2023, just as it was f... more We use graph theoretical arguments to show that India was the best team in 2023, just as it was four year earlier in the 2019 edition.

Ten national teams will go into the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup, to be held from 5 Octob... more Ten national teams will go into the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup, to be held from 5 October to 19 November 2023. This will be the 13th edition of a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The teams are: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Let us see how the teams are placed using what I call Ramanujacharyulu’s (henceforth Ram) tournament metaphor, taking into consideration their Head-to-Head encounters so far in this format.

The time dimension rarely enters into the bibliometric discourse. But this is possible in a very ... more The time dimension rarely enters into the bibliometric discourse. But this is possible in a very simple and neat way if the arithmetical rule of three (Prathap 2006, 2016) is introduced. It is the time it takes for an average scientist or author (Fulltime Equivalent Researcher or FTER) to publish a paper. Its inverse is also a proxy for the efficiency or velocity of research publication in terms of FTER time to finish a given quantum of work and get it published.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ kicked off on 20 July with the official... more The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ kicked off on 20 July with the official slogan Beyond Greatness. After 64 matches (48 as round-robin in eight groups of four teams each) and another 16 in the knockout stage to determine the top four places, Spain has been crowned the queens of football. If Spain was great, then was Japan beyond greatness? They won all their matches in Group C, beat Spain 4-0 on 31 July 2023 and topped the Group with the full 9 points from 3 matches with 11 goals for and none against. No other team topped a group in such a comprehensive way.

Colleges contribute the highest number of graduates but only a small portion of the country's aca... more Colleges contribute the highest number of graduates but only a small portion of the country's academic research output. In this study, we shall report on the data from the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE 2020-21). We argue that it would make sense to discourage the proliferation of colleges and move to a largely university model of higher education as envisaged in NEP 2020.

We follow the protocol used in our earlier studies to see how leading higher educational institut... more We follow the protocol used in our earlier studies to see how leading higher educational institutions (HEIs) in India have been faring during this period, as compared to the comparators from China.

We propose an improvement of the recently introduced individual hi-index by incorporating two add... more We propose an improvement of the recently introduced individual hi-index by incorporating two additional conditions: the conservation of counts of fractionalized publications as a measure of quantity and the dimensionally consistent use of impact as an intensive measure of quality. As the two measures are then dimensionally homogenous, the heuristic trade-off between quality and quantity can be reliably used to compute the improved hi-index.

The Gini index or coefficient is the most popular approach to measure inequality. In conjunction ... more The Gini index or coefficient is the most popular approach to measure inequality. In conjunction with the Lorenz curve, it has a heuristic provenance and does not originate from first principles. But once defined, it also leads easily to a measure of evenness or balance. In this paper, we compare this with another indicator which we shall call for easy reference as the Gipi index which comes naturally from a thermodynamic perspective and leads to simple dimensionless measures of inequality, and hence of balance and evenness, with values that range from 0 (perfect equality, balance or evenness) to 1 (perfect inequality, unevenness or absolute concentration). The Gipi index emerges from a thermodynamically intuitive weighting of the distribution to get second-order energy like terms. In contrast, the Gini index can be interpreted as a non-intuitive way of weighting the distribution where the second-order terms are not energy terms in the classical physics definition. However, both indicators have the invariance properties and sensitivity to the transfer requirements expected of any good inequality or evenness indicator.

Ireland won the Guinness 2023 Six Nations Championship. We review the performance from a graph th... more Ireland won the Guinness 2023 Six Nations Championship. We review the performance from a graph theoretical point of view.

In the modern world, the fields of science and technology have made significant progress. These s... more In the modern world, the fields of science and technology have made significant progress. These significant and rapid progress is primarily due to the advancements in computational capabilities. Traditionally, the testing of scientific laws and engineering principles is done heavily on laboratory experiments. However, these experiments often had limitations when it came to simulating complex real-world scenarios and accounting for all possible variations. This posed a challenge in accurately simulating and drawing a deeper understanding of these derived theories. To bridge this gap between theoretical knowledge and practical applications, computational science has emerged as a powerful tool. With the advent of sensor technologies, powerful computing hardware, and rigorous mathematical algorithms, scientists and researchers now have the tools to tackle complex systems with great accuracy close to reality. These have enabled the treatment of underlying phenomena with greater precision than ever before. Consequently, there has been a paradigm shift in the way we approach scientific exploration. This integrates advanced computational techniques and vast amounts of data into the logic of discovery and the logic of justification. We now see data-driven approaches, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) driving scientific research forward. Computational science has already shown that it is a bridge that connects the fundamental understanding of scientific principles with real-world evidence. It allows researchers to validate hypotheses, make predictions, and gain deeper insights and come to a consensus of complex phenomena. The workshop titled "Conjectures to Consilience through Computation" is centered around this understanding of the key role of computation in science. It aims to delve into the intersection of computational science, theoretical and philosophical conjectures, and empirical evidence, and ultimately seeking convergence of knowledge across disciplines.