Trends and Impact of Artificial Intelligence Research in Indian Institutes of Technology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends, Impact, and Global Collaboration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34256/Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Bibliometric Analysis, Indian Institutes of Technology, Research Trends, Global Collaboration, Machine LearningAbstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most influential technologies of the twenty-first century, and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have become a central hub for AI research in India and overseas. While earlier studies assessed IITs’ overall research, none have focused on their AI output. This review presents a bibliometric analysis of 867 AI-related publications from all 23 IITs between 1989 and 2025, using Scopus data retrieved on June 26, 2025. The results show steady growth at an annual rate of 13.42% and a sharp rise after 2015. The corpus comprises 525 sources, 2,386 affiliations, and 160 funding agencies, involving 2,729 authors (approximately 4.49 per article). Only 13 papers were single-authored, while 36.79% involved international collaboration. Publications received 26,279 citations (30.31 per paper). Articles formed the majority (728, 83.9%), while reviews (102) had the highest impact (36.45 citations per paper). IIT Delhi led with 176 papers and 8,898 citations, while newer IITs, such as Bhubaneswar (12 papers, 66.92 citations per paper), Jammu (4, 52.00), and Tirupati (5, 49.80), showed selective high-impact output. The citation distribution was skewed: 12.7% of papers had no citations, while 15.5% (134 papers) accounted for 65% of citations. Regression models showed that exponential growth (R²=0.888) provided a stronger fit than linear growth (R²=0.573), suggesting that the IITs’ output is accelerating. Funding was led by DST (51 papers, 31.06 citations per paper), SERB (48, 15.56), and NSF-USA (15, 31.67), all with international collaboration. These findings underline the importance of sustained and well-targeted funding policies. Together, IITs combine large-scale output from established institutions with high-impact work from newer ones, strengthening India’s global AI position and directly supporting the goals of the National AI Strategy.
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