Who is Funding Indian Research? A look at major funding sources acknowledged in Indian research papers

Abstract: Science and scientific research activities, in addition to the involvement of the researchers, require resources like research infrastructure, materials and reagents, databases and computational tools, journal subscriptions and publication charges etc. In order to meet these requirements, researchers try to attract research funding from different funding sources, both intramural and extramural. Though some recent reports provide details of the amount of funding provided by different funding agencies in India, it is not known what quantum of research output resulted from such funding. This paper, therefore, attempts to quantify the research output produced with the funding provided by different funding agencies to Indian researchers. The major funding agencies that supported Indian research publications are identified and are further characterized in terms of being national or international, and public or private. The analytical results not only provide a quantitative estimate of funded research from India and the major funding agencies supporting the research, but also discusses the overall context of research funding in India, particularly in the context of upcoming operationalization of Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF).