The research output from Indian medical institutions between 2005 and 2014

BackgroundThe research output from Indian medical institutions is generally regarded to be poor but there have been no previous studies to document this especially after the recent proliferation of 263 medical colleges, mainly in the private sector and under the aegis of the National Board of Examinations, as well as the 316, mainly public sector, colleges under the Medical Council of India.MethodsUsing the SCOPUS database we analyzed the research output from 579 Indian medical institutions and hospitals between 2005 and 2014, including the contributions of individual states and compared the output of Indian medical institutions with some of the leading academic centers in the world.ResultsOnly 25 (4.3%) of the institutions produced more than 100 papers a year but their contribution was 40.3% of the country's total research output. 332 (57.3%) of the medical colleges did not have a single publication during this period. The states which had the largest number of private medical colleges fared the worst with more than 90% of the medical colleges in Karnataka and Kerala having no publication at all. In comparison, the annual research output of the Massachusetts General Hospital was 4600 and the Mayo Clinic 3700.ConclusionThe overall research output from Indian medical institutions is poor. This may be because medical education has now become a business and there is little interest in research which is not thought to be a profitable activity. We believe that a drastic overhaul of Indian medical education is necessary similar to that initiated by Flexner in the USA in the beginning of the last century.