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Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga: A Case Study

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Trends in Bibliometics
and
Scientometrics Studies

Editors
Dr. P K Jain
Librarian
Institute of Economic Growth
University of Delhi Enclave
Delhi- 110007. India

Prof. Jean-Charles LAMIREL

Maître de Conférences,
Habilité à Diriger des Recherches
Université de Strasbourg
Jawaharlal Nehru University,
LORIA – Nancy, France

Dr. Parveen Babbar

Deputy Librarian
Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi, India
Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies
P K Jain, Jean-Charles Lamerel and Parveen Babbar

© Editors, 2017

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 27

Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD

Shodhganga: A Case Study

Nabi Hasan
University Librarian
Maulana Azad Central Library,
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU),
Aligarh, India
E-mail: nabihasan@gmail.com

Rais Ahmad Khan

Semi Professional Assistant
Maulana Azad Central Library,
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU),
Aligarh, India

Jafar Iqbal
Semi Professional Assistant,
Maulana Azad Central Library,
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU),
Aligarh, India

Introduction
In India, higher education sector has witnessed a tremendous increase in the
number of Universities and University level Institutions since Independence. As
per the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi and Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, there are 46 Central
Universities, 350 State Universities, 228 State Private Universities, 122 Deemed
to be Universities and 74 Institutions of National Importance.
282 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

Gaur (2016) reported that on an average, over 40000 Ph.D. theses and M.Phil.
dissertations are annually contributed by these Universities. Traditionally, these
theses and dissertations are printed, bound and stored in university libraries and
archives. The challenges faced in having printed theses and dissertations by
libraries are i) low visibility & accessibility and ii) acquisition, processing &
circulation problems.
Open access to scientific knowledge is a global movement for making
scientific information and scholarly literature available in the public domain.
The global open access statements and declarations, accepted by major research
funding agencies and apex research councils across the world, emphasize on
the availability of scientific knowledge originated from public-funded research
through open access channels (Das, 2014). A large number of Universities/
Research Institutions have established open access institutional repositories that
store and provide access to their research outputs particularly ETDs in support of
global open access movement.
ETDs are electronic versions of traditional print theses. ETDs are defined
as those theses and dissertations submitted, archived, or accessed primarily in
electronic formats (Weisser and Walker, 1997).
According to Virginia Tech University (2014) “a dissertation or thesis is
a work submitted in support of candidature for a doctorate or master’s degree,
respectively, which presents the author’s research and findings. Electronic version
of theses and dissertations are called ETDs.”
Weisser and Walker (1997) defined ETDs as “those theses and dissertations
submitted, archived or accessed primarily in electronic formats. That includes
traditional word-processed (or typewritten and scanned) documents made
available in Print Document Format (PDF), as well as less-traditional hypertext
and multimedia formats published electronically on CD-ROM or on the World
Wide Web.”

Benefits of ETDs
The following are some of the possible benefits of ETDs:
•• ETDs facilitate the creation, archiving and providing worldwide access to
theses and dissertations in open access mode to academic community. As
ETDs are available in open access mode, there will definitely be increased
transparency and quality in research.
•• It allows universities/institutions to manage their research output which
could also be used as a showcase of that particular university/institution.
•• With the help of ETDs, the serious problems in research output such as
duplication of research and poor quality resulting from poor visibility can
be overcome easily.
•• ETDs offer immediate and worldwide access to research that otherwise
could not be disseminated.
Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga 283

•• According to International Network for ETDs in Nursing (INETDIN)

(n.d.) ETDs are more visible than the printed theses. Therefore, ownership
of content is more easily proved and detection of plagiarism is far easier.

ETDs in India
OpenDOAR hosted by University of Nottingham, UK provides an authoritative
directory of worldwide academic open access repositories including ETDs. As per
OpenDOAR, there is 1798 open access ETDs around the world, of which 34 ETDs
have been registered from India.
Following Table 27.1 provides the list of ETDs designed, developed and
maintained by Indian Universities/Research Institutions.

Table 27.1: Indian ETDs registered in OpenDOAR

S. Hosting No. of
Name of ETD URL
No. Institution Records
Aryabhatta
Research Institute Aryabhatta
of Observational Research Institute http://210.212.91.105:8080/
1. ---
Sciences Digital of Observational jspui/ (Currently not functional)
Repository Sciences, Nainital
(ARIES)
Central Marine
2. eprints@CMFRI Fisheries Research 288 http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/
Institute , Kochi
Cochin University
of Science & https://dyuthi.cusat.ac.in/
3. Dyuthi 2423
Technology xmlui/
(CUSAT)
Cochin University
DigitalLibrary@
4. of Science and 2 http://dspace.cusat.ac.in/jspui/
CUSAT
Technology, Cochin
CSIR-Institute
of Microbial
5. DIR@IMTECH 1 http://crdd.osdd.net/open/
Technology,
Chandigarh
DRS at National
National Institute
Institute Of
6. of Oceanography 52 http://drs.nio.org/drs/
Oceanography
(NIO), Goa
(DRS@nio)
Guru Gobind
DSpace @ http://14.139.60.216:8080/xm-
7. Singh Indraprastha ---
GGSIPU lui/ (Currently not functional)
University, Delhi
SDM College
of Engineering http://210.212.198.149:8080/
8. dspace @ sdmcet ---
and Technology jspui (Currently not functional)
Dharwad
284 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

DSpace at
Indian Institute of
Indian Institute of http://library.iigm.res.in:8080/
9. GeomagnetisM 22
Geomagnetism jspui/
(IIG), Mumbai
(IIG)
DSpace at
Indian Institute
Indian Institute
10. of Management 6 http://dspace.iimk.ac.in/
of Management
Kozhikode 
Kozhikode
Maharaja Sayajirao
DSpace at M S http://14.139.121.106:8080/
11. University of 614
University jspui/
Baroda
http://dspace.vidyanidhi.org.
DSpace at University of
12. --- in:8080/dspace/ (Currently not
Vidyanidhi Mysore, Mysore
functional)
National Institute
13. ethesis@nitr of Technology, 5523 http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/
Rourkela (NITR)
http://dspace.thapar.edu:8080/
Thapar University
14. DSpace@TU --- dspace/ (Currently not func-
(TU)
tional)
Electronic Theses
and Dissertations Indian Institute
http://etd.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/
15. at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), ---
(Currently not functional)
of Science (edt@ Bangalore
IISc)
CSIR-National
Metallurgical
16. Eprints@NML 61 http://eprints.nmlindia.org/
Laboratory,
Jamshedpur
Madras Diabetes
Eprints@MDRF Research
17. 2 http://mdrf-eprints.in/
  Foundation,
Chennai
Indian Agricultural
http://eprints.iari.res.in/
18. Eprints@IARI Research Institute ---
(Currently not functional)
(IARI)
Eprint@IIT Delhi Indian Institute of
19. 4160 http://eprint.iitd.ac.in/dspace/
  Technology Delhi
Etheses - A
http://etheses.saurashtrau-
Saurashtra Saurashtra
20. --- niversity.edu/ (Currently not
University Library University
functional)
Service
Indian Association
IACS Institutional http://arxiv.iacs.res.in:8080/
21. for the Cultivation 8
Repository jspui/
of Science, Kolkata
Digital Repository Indian Institute
22. of Indian Institute of Astrophysics 165 http://prints.iiap.res.in/
of Astrophysics  (IIAP), Bangalore
Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga 285

Institutional
Repository of
Intellectual
Delhi Technological http://www.dspace.dce.edu/
23. Contributions ---
University, Delhi (Currently not functional)
of Delhi
Technological
University
CSIR-Central
Scientific
Institutional Instruments http://csioir.csio.res.in/
24. ---
Repository@CSIO Organisation (Currently not functional)
(CSIR-CSIO),
Chandigarh
Indian Institute
IIMA Institutional http://vslir.iimahd.ernet.
25. of Management, 326
Repository  in:8080/xmlui/
Ahmedabad
Indira Gandhi
Kautilya Digital
Institute of
Repository at http://oii.igidr.ac.in:8080/jspui/
26. Development ---
IGIDR (Kautilya@ (Currently not functional)
Research (IGIDR),
igidr)
Mumbai
Knowledge http://dspaces.uok.edu.
University of
27. Repository Open --- in:8080/jspui/ (Currently not
Kashmir
Network (KNoor) functional)
Indian Council
KrishiKosh for Agricultural
28. --- http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/
  Research (ICAR),
New Delhi
Documentation
Research and
Librarians’ Digital Training Centre, https://drtc.isibang.ac.in/
29. ---
Library (LDL) Indian Statistical (Currently not functional)
Institute, Bangalore
Centre (ISI)
Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi
30. University Theses University, 2233 http://www.mgutheses.org/
Online Kottayam
National
Aerospace
National Aerospace
Laboratories
31. Laboratories, 7 http://nal-ir.nal.res.in/
Institutional
Bangalore
Repository (NAL
Repository)
NIRT Institutional National Institute
32. Repository for Tuberculosis --- http://eprints.nirt.res.in/
(EPrints@NIRT) Research, Chennai
Indian Institute
33. RAIITH of Technology 702 http://raiith.iith.ac.in/
Hyderabad
INFLIBNET Centre, http://shodhganga.inflibnet.
34. Shodhganga 99999
Ahmedabad ac.in/
Source: OpenDOAR (As on 03/10/2016)
286 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

Shodhganga Repository
The University Grants Commission, a statutory body of Indian Higher Education
System, mandated submission of electronic version of theses and dissertations by
the researchers in universities with an aim to facilitate open access to Indian theses
and dissertations to the academic community worldwide. As per the Regulation,
the INFLIBNET Centre of University Grants Commission has been assigned
the responsibility of hosting, maintaining and making the digital repository of
Indian ETDs, namely Shodhganga, which provides access and archiving of Indian
doctoral theses to all universities and institutions. The Shodhganga repository
(Fig. 27.1) was set up using DSpace open source software developed by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Hewlett Packard (HP) Labs
(Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre, 2015).
Theses and dissertations in Shodhganga are arranged by departments/ centres/
colleges in each University/ Institution. Shodhganga repository provides option
for simple and advance search on the home page along with browsing facility
through universities and departments (Fig. 27.1).

Fig. 27.1: Shodhganga Homepage: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in

Contribution of AMU in Shodhganga

AMU requires its Ph.D. and M.Phil. students to submit hard copy of final version
of their theses and dissertations along with soft copy in PDF format in a CD in
order to ensure that all Ph.D. theses and M.Phil. dissertations produced at AMU
are captured, preserved and appropriately made accessible to global academic
community. Once the Ph.D./M.Phil degree is awarded, the process of submission
of PDF format of theses/dissertations starts on Shodhganga repository (Only Ph.D
theses uploaded upto Oct. 4, 2016 were taken).
As of 04/10/2016, 280 Indian Universities that conduct Ph.D. or M.Phil.
Programmes have signed MoU with INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad. However,
261 of them have contributed 99995 full text theses and dissertations along with
3485 synopses to Shodhganga repository.
Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga 287

Top Contributors in Shodhganga Repository

Table 27.2 and Fig. 27.2 provide lists of top ten Universities in India in terms
of their contribution to Shodhganga repository. AMU has signed MoU with
INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad on 9th October 2012 to participate in Shodhganga
project, and within a span of 4 years, the University has been ranked no. 1 in
terms of contribution to Shodhganga with 6138 full text theses and dissertations
followed by Panjab University (5616) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (4458).
Other top contributing Universities in Shodhgana are Anna University (3917),
Karnatak University (3540), Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (3465),
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (3335), Sri Krishnadevaraya
University (3242), Guwahati University (3114) and Gujarat University (3045).

Table 27.2: Top Contributors in Shodhganga Repository

S. No. of Theses/
University
No. Dissertations
1 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) 6138
2 Panjab University (PU) 5616
3 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) 4458
4 Anna University (AU) 3917
5 Karnatak University (KU) 3540
6 Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSUB) 3465
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University
7 3335
(DBAMU)
8 Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU) 3242
9 Gauhati University (GAU) 3114
10 Gujarat University (GU) 3045
Source: Shodhganga (As on 04/10/2016)

Fig. 27.2: Top Contributors in Shodhganga Repository

288 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

Year-wise Contribution in Shodhganga Repository

Table 27.3 and Fig. 27.3 give year-wise distribution of ETDs from AMU, Aligarh.
Fig. 27.3 clearly depicts that highest no. of ETDs, i.e., a total no. of 5405 theses
and dissertations are submitted in the year 2015 in Shodhganga repository by
AMU followed by 252, 244 and 237 ETDs in the years 2013, 2016 and 2014,
respectively.

Table 27.3: Year wise contribution from AMU in Shodhganga

No. of Theses and Dissertations
S. No. Year
Submitted
1 2016 244
2 2015 5405
3 2014 237
4 2013 252
Total 6138

Fig. 27.3: Year-wise submission of ETDs in Shodhganga

Department/Subject-wise Distribution of ETDs in

Shodhganga Repository
Department-wise contribution of AMU in Shodhganga Repository has been given
in Table 27.4. Out of 6138 ETDs contributed by 62 Departments of AMU in
Shodhganga repository, the Department of Chemistry has contributed maximum no.
of ETDs, i.e., 816 theses and dissertations. However, Department of Bio-Chemistry
and Department of Zoology secured the second and third position by contributing
419 and 371 theses and dissertations, respectively. Other major contributors from
AMU are the Department of Botany with 354 theses and dissertations followed
by Department of Hindi (287), Department of Commerce (251), Department of
Political Science (239), Department of Urdu (214), Department of Physics (204)
and Department of Psychology (202).
Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga 289

Table 27.4: Department wise contribution in Shodhganga repository

S. No. of Theses/
Department
No. Dissertations
1 Department of Chemistry 816
2 Department of Bio-Chemistry 419
3 Department of Zoology 371
4 Department of Botany 354
5 Department of Hindi 287
6 Department of Commerce 251
7 Department of Political Science 239
8 Department of Urdu 214
9 Department of Physics 204
10 Department of Psychology 202
11 Department of Geography 196
12 Department of History 196
13 Department of Business Administration 195
14 Department of Mathematics 180
15 Department of English 173
16 Department of Economics 163
17 Department of Geology 128
18 Department of Arabic 122
19 Department of Sanskrit 104
20 Department of Education 103
21 Department of Sociology and Social Work 103
22 Department of Applied Chemistry 86
23 Department of Library and Information 80
Science
24 Department of Statistics & Operational 79
Research
25 Department of Linguistics 76
26 Department of Law 72
27 Department of Philosophy 69
28 Department of Islamic Studies 65
29 Department of Sunni Theology 54
30 Department of Applied Mathematics 52
31 Department of Physical Health & Sports 46
Education
32 Department of Persian 39
290 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

33 Department of Agriculture Microbiology 36

34 Department of West Asian Studies 36
35 Department of Applied Physics 32
36 Department of Plant Protection 32
37 Department of Electrical Engineering 26
38 Department of Fine Arts 26
39 Department of Wildlife Science 26
40 Department of Microbiology 24
41 Department of Agr. Economics & Business 22
Management
42 Department of Electronics Engineering 19
43 Department of Home Science 18
44 Department of Mechanical Engineering 15
45 Department of Physiology 15
46 Department of Civil Engineering 14
47 Department of Modern Indian Languages 14
48 Department of Anatomy 5
49 Department of Computer Science 5
50 Department of Chemical Engineering 4
51 Department of Mass Communication 4
52 Department of Museology 4
53 Department of Pharmacology 4
54 Department of Post-Harvest Engineering & 4
Technology
55 Department of Anesthesiology 3
56 Department of Social Work 3
57 Department of Computer Engineering 2
58 Department of Shia Theology 2
59 Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit 2
60 Department of Architecture 1
61 Department of Forensic Medicine 1
62 Department of Medicine 1
Total 6138
Aligarh Muslim University @ iETD Shodhganga 291

Fig. 27.4: Subject-wise contribution to Shodhganga

Fig. 27.4 exhibits subject-wise contribution of ETDs to Shodhganga

repository. The highest percentage of ETDs from AMU, i.e., 13.29% ETDs fall
under the subject area Chemistry followed by Bio-Chemistry (6.83%), Zoology
(6.04%) and Botany (5.77%). Other major subject areas are Hindi (4.67%),
Commerce (4.09%), Political Science (3.89%), Urdu (3.49%), Physics (3.32%)
and Psychology (3.29%).

Conclusion
In India, it is an infant stage for developing institutional repositories. Many
institutions have been developing the repositories and the Government has made
some efforts through UGC- Shodhganga project which provides a platform for
research students to deposit their Ph.D. Theses and make them available to the
entire scholarly community in open access. At present Shodhganga repository has
included only 99995 full text theses and dissertations. An Initiative should have
to be taken to include almost all the theses and dissertations awarded by Indian
universities and institutions in Shodhganga repository.
AMU is also planning to be more active contributor to Shodhganga, an
initiative of INFLIBNET Centre. Under this initiative, research scholars/ research
supervisors of AMU will deposit electronic version of approved synopses
submitted by research scholars to the University for registering themselves for the
Ph.D. programme. This would reveal the trends and directions of research being
conducted in AMU, Aligarh and would avoid duplication of research.
292 Trends in Bibliometics and Scientometrics Studies

References
Das, A.K. (2014). Open access to scientific knowledge: Policy perspectives and national
initiatives. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis.org/24864/1/Anup_2014_OA%20to%20
ScientificKnowledge.pdf
Gaur, R. (2016). ETD publishing, open access and embargo: Experience in Indian
universities. Retrieved from https://etd2016.sciencesconf.org/93391/document
International Network for Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Nursing (INETDIN)
(n.d.). Benefits and Challenges. Retrieved from https://inetdinwebsite.wordpress.com/
etd-author-section/benefits-and-challenges/
Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre (2015). Shodhganga: a reservoir of Indian theses.
Retrieved from http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/
Virginia Tech University. (2014). Definition of an ETD. Retrieved from http://etd.vt.edu/
etddefn.html
Weisser, C. & Walker, J.R. (1997). Excerpted: Electronic theses and dissertations:
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