A bibliometric assessment of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry: Trends, impact, and collaboration (2009–2024)

ABSTRACT

Background:

The Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) serves as a premier repository for psychiatric research in India.

Aim:

This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to evaluate the journal’s publication trends and citation impact from 2009 to 2024.

Methods:

Bibliographic data were retrieved from the Scopus database, covering the period from January 2009 to December 2024. A final dataset of 2,357 publications was analyzed for this paper.

Results:

The journal experienced robust growth, registering an average annual publication growth rate of 9.16% over the 16 years. The journal’s Impact Factor rose significantly from 0.384 in 2010 to a peak of 3.1 in 2022. Authors from India contributed 88.63% of the total output, anchored by institutions such as the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, although international contributions from countries like Switzerland (Citation per paper [CPP]: 22.36), Germany (CPP: 17.68), Canada (CPP: 17.68), and Italy (CPP: 17.63) demonstrated a higher citation efficiency compared to those from India (11.6). The authorship pattern revealed a definitive shift from single-author (reduced from 28.65% to 9.9%) to collaborative, multiauthor research. Thematically, research concentrated on core areas such as depression and schizophrenia, while displaying responsiveness to emerging crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion:

The IJP has consistently demonstrated a trajectory of upward influence and academic reputation over the past 16 years. While the journal serves as a vibrant ecosystem for domestic research, future strategies should focus on leveraging international collaborations to enhance global visibility and citation impact further.

INTRODUCTION

Scientific publications serve as repositories of professional knowledge, stimulate research, and act as a permanent record of the expanding horizons of knowledge in any field.[1] The Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP), the official publication of the Indian Psychiatric Society, which was established in 1949 as the Indian Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, has been central to the mission of expanding psychiatric knowledge. The journal was renamed as the Indian Journal of Psychiatry in 1958. Over the last 76 years, the journal has undergone significant change,[2] and among the few journals published in India, that publishes 12 issues annually. Currently, the IJP is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal indexed in major international databases, including PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science (https://journals.lww.com/indianjpsychiatry/pages/default.aspx), and has experienced a general upward trajectory in its impact factor and global reach.

Over time, the journal’s focus has been guided by contemporary issues, with early issues featuring articles on psychoanalysis. The current focus of the journal is on publishing more methodologically sound and rigorous research.[3]

In the current publishing industry, evaluating the quality of journals is a challenging task. Several methods have been proposed to evaluate the quality of a journal.[4,5] Among these, one method is bibliometric analysis. Consequently, bibliometric analysis has become an indispensable tool for systematic evaluation. By quantifying publication patterns, citation dynamics, and authorship networks, bibliometrics provide deep insights into the dissemination of knowledge and the thematic evolution of a domain.[6] The existing literature demonstrates the diverse applications of these parameters for assessing different journals.[7] Although there are bibliometric evaluations for some journals published in India, there is no such analysis for the IJP. Accordingly, utilizing Scopus data and visualization techniques, this paper aims to analyze the IJP’s publication structure (i.e., number of publications, impact factor, keywords, etc.), citation dynamics, and prominent contributors to the journal over the last 16 years.

METHODOLOGY

The bibliographic data for this study were retrieved from the Scopus database, which was chosen for its comprehensive and broader coverage of peer-reviewed medical literature. The search strategy focused on the source title to isolate publications specifically published in IJP. The study period was restricted to 16 years, covering the period from January 1, 2009 (i.e. the time frame from which the IJP got listed in PubMed) to December 31, 2024. The specific search query employed was: SRCTITLE (“Indian Journal of Psychiatry”) AND PUBYEAR >2008 AND PUBYEAR < 2025 AND (LIMIT-TO (EXACTSRCTITLE, “Indian Journal of Psychiatry”)).

The initial search yielded a total of 3,131 documents. After applying the requisite filters and date limitations, a final dataset of 2,357 publications was retained for analysis. The bibliographic records were exported in Comma-Separated Values (CSV) format for further processing. The data analysis involved quantitative and visual methodologies using the following software:

• Microsoft Excel: Used for data cleaning and basic descriptive statistics.

• VOSviewer (https://www.vosviewer.com/): Employed to construct and visualize network maps, specifically for co-authorship networks and keyword co-occurrence overlays.

• Biblioshiny (RStudio): Utilized via the bibliometrix R package (https://www.bibliometrix.org/) to generate additional conceptual maps and perform advanced metric calculations.

The different parameters that were assessed in the study included Citations per paper (CPP), Relative Citation Index (RCI), and Total Link Strength (TLS). CPP reflects the number of times a paper in the database has been cited. The RCI is computed as the actual number of citations received by the paper divided by the expected citation rate of its peer field. TLC is a standardized quantitative metric that evaluates the overall weight and intensity of the connection between a specific item (such as an author, country, or keyword) and all other items in the dataset.

RESULTS

Journal metrics: The bibliometric indicators for the IJP between 2009 and 2024 show a robust upward trajectory in scholarly influence, despite minor fluctuations in recent years. The journal’s Impact Factor (IF) experienced an eightfold increase, rising from 0.384 in 2010 to a peak of 3.1 in 2022, before settling at 1.7 in 2023. Similarly, the CiteScore grew steadily from 0.7 in 2011 to a high of 4.4 in 2022. The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) mirrored this pattern, climbing from 0.125 in 2010 to a maximum of 0.771 in 2022 [Supplementary Table 1].

Supplementary Table 1.

Trends of Indian Journal of Psychiatry’s metrices

Year	Impact Factor	Cite Score	Scimago Journal Rank (SJR)
2010	0.384	Not Available	0.125
2011	0.617	0.7	0.213
2012	0.726	1.2	0.320
2013	0.849	1.4	0.406
2014	0.839	1.6	0.349
2015	0.982	1.8	0.549
2016	0.81	2.1	0.514
2017	1.061	1.5	0.408
2018	1.122	1.5	0.542
2019	1.121	1.4	0.398
2020	1.759	1.8	0.485
2021	2.983	3.1	0.681
2022	3.1	4.4	0.771
2023	1.7	4.4	0.612
2024	2.0	2.2	0.518

The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) measures a journal’s prestige and influence by evaluating the quantity and quality of citations it receives, giving more weight to citations from more reputable journals. It calculates the average number of weighted citations per paper over a 3-year period, helping researchers assess impact and choose where to publish by categorizing journals into quartiles (Q1-Q4) within their subject areas. In 2024, Indian Journal of Psychiatry is categorized as Q-3 journal. CiteScore is a metric that is calculated based on the Scopus data, and it measures a journal’s average citation impact by dividing the citations received by articles in the last 4 complete years by the number of documents published in those same 4 years. It provides a transparent, alternative measure to Journal Impact Factor, ranking journals by subject area and offering insights for publication strategy and collection development

Annual growth and citation trend: Between 2009 and 2024, the IJP published 2,357 papers, exhibiting a robust average annual growth rate of 9.16%, with output rising from 86 papers in 2009 to a peak of 228 in 2020 and 222 in 2024. While papers with Indian authors (i.e., papers with at least one Indian author) dominated the landscape, accounting for 88.63% of the total output (2,089 papers) and achieving a higher citation impact (11.60 CPP) compared to foreign contributions (11.49 CPP), the foreign papers (i.e. papers with authors from countries other than India) demonstrated a significantly higher annual growth rate of 29.25%. The articles published in the journal accumulated 26,726 total citations with an overall CPP of 11.33. Notably, the papers published in the earlier period (2009–2016) achieved a higher CPP of 17.22 compared to 7.93 for papers published in the later period (2017–2024) [Table 1].

Table 1.

Year-wise growth of publications and citations

Year	TP	TC	CPP	TP Indian	TP Foreign
2009	86	1311	15.24	78	19
2010	89	1548	17.39	76	26
2011	86	1838	21.37	83	14
2012	102	1531	15.01	92	19
2013	149	4178	28.04	132	30
2014	100	1066	10.66	97	13
2015	133	2250	16.92	119	22
2016	120	1169	9.74	109	24
2017	145	2006	13.83	122	39
2018	174	2027	11.65	160	25
2019	221	2696	12.20	196	43
2020	228	2724	11.95	176	71
2021	143	719	5.03	126	27
2022	156	633	4.06	138	30
2023	203	694	3.42	181	38
2024	222	336	1.51	204	31
2009-16	865	14891	17.22	786	167
2017-24	1492	11835	7.93	1303	304
2009-24	2357	26726	11.33	2089	471
Total Indian papers	2089	24230	11.60
Total Foreign papers	471	5412	11.49

TP: Total publications; TC: Total citations; CPP: Citations per paper

Document types: An analysis of document types among the 2,357 publications (2009–2024) indicates that the IJP is focussed on primary research, with original articles constituting 50.8% (1,197 papers) of the total output. Letter to the Editor (20.7%) and review articles (17.35%) followed as the next most common formats. In terms of citation impact, conference papers (which typically indicate award/oration papers published in the journal) registered the highest CPP at 36.86, surpassing reviews (21.06 CPP) and original articles (12.10 CPP) [Supplementary Table 2].

Supplementary Table 2.

Distribution of document types

Document Type	TP	TC	CPP	%TP
Original Article	1197	14486	12.10	50.78
Letters to the Editor	488	1253	2.57	20.70
Review Articles	409	8615	21.06	17.35
Editorials	168	1454	8.65	7.13
Notes#	46	229	4.98	1.95
Short Surveys#	22	173	7.86	0.93
Conference Papers#	14	516	36.86	0.59
Erratum	13	0	0.00	0.55
Grand Total	2357	26726	11.34

TP: Total publications; TC: Total citations; CPP: Citations per paper. Although journal does not have specific categories for Notes, Short Surveys, and Conference papers, this categorization was based on the categorization available in SCOPUS database

Citation Distribution Pattern: The citation analysis [Supplementary Table 3] reveals a highly skewed, long-tail distribution, where a select core of elite papers drives the journal’s impact factor, while the majority of research receives modest attention. Out of 2,357 publications, 81.3% were cited at least once; however, the bulk of these (54.1%) clustered within the 1–10 citation range. As citation frequency increased, paper volume tapered sharply: Only 2.8% of publications were cited 51–100 times, and a mere 1.25% papers were cited more than 100 times. At the apex, only six “landmark” papers (0.25%) surpassed 240 citations.

Supplementary Table 3.

Distribution of citations

Citation Range	Publication Numbers	Number of Papers	Total Citations
1-10	642-1918	1277	5150
11-20	342-641	300	4439
21-30	204-341	138	3493
31-40	134-203	70	2460
41-50	95-133	39	1739
51-100	30-94	65	4516
101-183	7-29	23	3101
240-425	1-6	6	1828
Zero citation	1919-2357	439

Authorship pattern: The authorship pattern of the IJP demonstrates a clear and consistent shift from single-author to multiauthor collaboration papers [Supplementary Table 4]. During the years 2009–2012, single-author papers formed 28.65% of all the papers, and this reduced to 19.20% during the period of 2013–2016, 16.6% during the period of 2017–2020, and 9.9% for the period of 2021–2024.

Supplementary Table 4.

Pattern of authorship

Period	Number of papers with the authorship contribution
	1	2	3	4	5-10	>10	Total
2009-12	104	89	74	42	52	02	363
2013-16	97	116	103	81	97	08	502
2017-20	127	138	170	136	179	15	765
2021-24	72	89	161	150	219	36	727
Total	400	432	508	409	547	61	2357

Most Productive Countries: Notably, the majority of papers (2,089, 88.6% of the total) originated from India. However, in addition to India, the journal published papers with authors from 74 more countries. While papers from India surpassed the average productivity threshold (i.e., the papers by authors from India had a CPP higher than the mean for all the papers, irrespective of country of the author), papers from several other countries demonstrated superior citation efficiency. Publications from authors from seven nations, i.e., Switzerland (CPP 22.36), Canada, Germany, Italy, the United States of America (USA), and the United Kingdom (UK), registered citation impact and Relative Citation Indices (RCIs) significantly above the group average [Table 2].

Table 2.

Contribution and Citation Impact of the top contributing countries

Name	TP	TC	CPP	RCI
India	2089	24230	11.60	0.90
United Kingdom (UK)	96	1384	14.41	1.27
United States (US)	95	1671	17.58	1.55
Turkey	53	296	5.58	0.49
Australia	49	491	10.02	0.88
Canada	38	672	17.68	1.56
Nepal	16	128	8	0.71
Germany	16	283	17.68	1.56
China	15	108	7.2	0.63
Iran	13	100	7.69	0.68
Sri Lanka	12	82	6.83	0.60
Italy	11	194	17.63	1.55
Switzerland	11	246	22.36	1.97
Pakistan	10	129	12.90	1.14
Total of the top 14 countries	2524	32510	12.88	1.14
Total output	2357	26726	11.34	1.00

TP: Total publications; TC: Total citations; CPP: Citations per paper; RCI: Relative Citation Index

NETWORK COLLABORATION MAP BETWEEN AUTHORS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

While the collaboration network among authors from top countries was evaluated, a network of five distinct clusters with a Total Link Strength (TLS) (which is a measure of overall intensity of the connection between the authors) of 290 emerged, involving authors from the top 13 countries. Authors from India occupied the central node, anchoring the network through strong ties with the authors from the USA and the UK Cluster. Other significant groupings included a diverse interregional block comprising Australia, China, and Germany (Red Cluster), as well as a North American-Asian axis connecting Canada, Iran, and the USA (Green Cluster). Smaller clusters involving authors from Nepal, Turkey, and Pakistan also highlight regional connections [Supplementary Figure 1 ^{(262.5KB, tif)} ].

TOP 25 MOST PRODUCTIVE ORGANIZATIONS

Authors from 2,571 organizations contributed to the publications in IJP, with authors from the top 25 organizations accounting for 73.61% of all publications and 92.35% of total citations. Publications from the six organizations exceeded the average productivity (69.4) threshold, led by authors from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, with 428 papers, followed by authors from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh (223 papers), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi (153 papers), JSS Medical College and Hospital (JSSMCH), Mysore (148 papers) and King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow (99 papers). In terms of citation impact, publications from 11 organizations surpassed the group average (14.23 CPP and 1.25 RCI). Notably, publications with authors from the Gautam Hospital and Research Centre (33.58 and 2.96), Fortis Healthcare Ltd (27.83 and 2.45), Topiwala National (TN) Medical College and Bai Yamunabai Laxman Nair (BYL Nair Ch.) Hospital, Mumbai (18.73 and 1.65), AIIMS, Rishikesh (18.6 and 1.64), AIIMS, Raipur (18.0 and 1.59), Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College (LTMMC), Mumbai (16.59 and 1.46), NIMHANS, Bengaluru (16.04 and 1.41), JSS Medical College and Hospital (JSSMCH), Mysore (15.97 and 1.41), KGMU, Lucknow (15.84 and 1.40), and PGIMER, Chandigarh (15.13 and 1.33) achieved the citation impact rates, higher than the average citation impact [Supplementary Table 5].

Supplement Table 5.

Top 25 most productive organizations

Name of the organization	TP	TC	CPP	RCI	ICP	%ICP	TLS
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore	428	6869	16.05	1.42	42	9.81	518
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh	223	3374	15.13	1.33	12	5.38	461
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi	153	2164	14.14	1.25	7	4.58	292
JSS Medical College and Hospital (JSSMCH), Mysore	148	2364	15.97	1.41	21	14.19	286
King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow	99	1568	15.84	1.40	13	13.13	331
Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal	62	611	9.85	0.87	6	9.68	140
Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry	55	621	11.29	1.00	7	12.73	190
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MIHFW), New Delhi	54	325	6.02	0.53	6	11.11	163
Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi	47	489	10.40	0.92	7	14.89	47
Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh	40	235	5.88	0.52	2	5.00	59
Topiwala National (TN) Medical College and Bai Yamunabai Laxman Nair (BYL Nair Ch.) Hospital, Mumbai.	37	693	18.73	1.65	2	5.41	136
Advanced Medical Research Institute (AMRI) HospitaL, Kolkata	35	422	12.06	1.06	0	0.00	24
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Riskihesh	35	651	18.60	1.64	3	8.57	149
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneshwar	34	373	10.97	0.97	4	11.76	108
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur	33	365	11.06	0.98	0	0.00	140
St. John‘s National Academy of Health Sciences (SJNAHS), Bangalore	31	269	8.68	0.77	6	19.35	49
Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore	29	326	11.24	0.99	3	10.34	53
LokmanyaTilak Municipal Medical College (LTMMC), Mumbai	29	481	16.59	1.46	6	20.69	86
Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), New Delhi	29	153	5.28	0.47	2	6.90	41
Gautam Hospital and Research Centre (GHRC), Jaipur	26	873	33.58	2.96	0	0.00	113
Medical College, Calcutta	24	111	4.63	0.41	5	20.83	67
Fortis Healthcare Ltd	24	668	27.83	2.45	2	8.33	186
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur	22	396	18.00	1.59	3	13.64	124
Schizophrenia Research Foundation Chennai	19	163	8.58	0.76	4	21.05	68
RG Kar Medical College	19	118	6.21	0.55	1	5.26	131
Total of top 25 organization	1735	24682	14.23	1.25	164	9.45	3962
Total publications in the journal	2357	26726	11.34	1.00
Share of top 25 organizations in global total	73.61	92.35

TP: Total publications; TC: Total citations; CPP: Citations per paper; Relative Citation Indices (RCIs); ICP: International Collaborative Papers; %ICP: Percentage of International Collaborative Papers; TLS: Total Link Strength

Collaboration among different institutes: Authors from NIHMANS, Bangalore, had a TLS of 518 with authors from PGIMER, Chandigarh, and that of 461 with authors from AIIMS, New Delhi. These are followed by JSSMCH, Mysore, and KGMU, Lucknow, which have registered TLS scores of 286 and 331. They are most collaborative among themselves and with the above three organizations.

Authors from NIHMANS, Bangalore, had the strongest collaborative links with authors from JSSMCH, Mysore (n = 43), PGIMER, Chandigarh (n = 22), KGMU, Lucknow (n = 22), and AIIMS, New Delhi (n = 11). Authors from PGIMER, Chandigarh, registered the highest number of collaborative links with authors from AIIMS, New Delhi (n = 25), followed by authors from NIHMANS, Bangalore (n = 23), and KGMU, Lucknow (n = 21). Authors from AIIMS, New Delhi, collaborated most frequently with authors from PGIMER, Chandigarh (n = 25), followed by authors from NIMHANS, Bangalore (n = 11), and KGMU, Lucknow (n = 8). Authors from JSSMCH, Mysore, have collaborated with authors from NIHMANS, Bangalore (n = 43), KGMU, Lucknow (n = 9), PGIMER, Chandigarh (n = 7), and AIIMS, New Delhi (n = 5). Authors from KGMU, Lucknow, had the strongest collaborative links (n = 22) with authors from NIMHANS, Bangalore, followed by PGIMER, Chandigarh (n = 21), JSSMCH, Mysore (n = 9), and AIIMS, New Delhi (n = 8).

TOP 25 MOST PRODUCTIVE AUTHORS

A total of 4,399 authors contributed to the IJP, with the top 25 authors contributing to 44.68% of all publications and 66.82% of total citations, highlighting a significant concentration of influential research. Six authors exceeded the average productivity (44.68) threshold, led by S. Grover (PGIMER-Chandigarh) with 148 papers and C. Andrade (NIMHANS-Bangalore) with 105. In terms of citation impact, 11 authors surpassed the group average (15.99 CPP and 1.41 RCI), notably, A. Tripathi (KGMU-Lucknow) (31.58 CPP and 2.78 RCI), G. Saha (Clinic Brain Neuropsychiatric Institute and Research Centre, Kolkata) (31.39 CPP AND 2.77 RCI), R. Gupta (AIIMS-Rishikesh) (31.0 CPP and 2.73 RCI), S. Gautam (Gautam Hospital and Research Centre) (30.41 CPP and 2.68 RCI), and J. Thirthali (NIMHANS) (26.03 CPP and 2.3 RCI) [Table 3].

Table 3.

Bibliometric profile of the top 25 most productive authors

Name of the Author	Affiliation	TP	TC	CPP	RCI	ICP	%ICP	TLS
Sandeep Grover	PGIMER- Chandigarh	148	2301	15.55	1.37	3	2.03	641
Chittaranjan Andrade	NIMHANS-Bangalore	105	1160	11.05	0.97	11	10.48	231
T. S. Sathyanarayana Rao	JSSMCH, Mysore	94	1336	14.21	1.25	13	13.83	271
Ajit Avasthi	PGIMER-Chandigarh	89	1877	21.09	1.86	2	2.25	514
Omprakash Singh	Midnapore Medical College, WB	59	933	15.81	1.39	1	1.69	191
Siddharth Sarkar	AIIMS-New Delhi	49	749	15.29	1.35	1	2.04	334
Vikas Menon	JIPMER-Pondicherry	41	437	10.66	0.94	6	14.63	306
JagadishaThirthalli	NIHMANS-Bangalore	38	989	26.03	2.30	4	10.53	240
N. Manjunatha	NIHMANS-Bangalore	37	677	18.30	1.61	0	0.00	244
B. N. Gangadhar	NIHMANS-Bangalore	36	113	3.14	0.28	2	5.56	190
Swapnajeet Sahoo	PGIMER-Chandigarh	35	862	24.63	2.17	1	2.86	278
Debashish Basu	PGIMER-Chandigarh	33	288	8.73	0.77	1	3.03	219
Samir K. Praharaj	KMC- Manipal	32	129	4.03	0.36	3	9.38	189
Subho Chakrabarti	PGIMER-Chandigarh	32	379	11.84	1.04	0	0.00	123
Abhishek Ghosh	PGIMER-Chandigarh	31	201	6.48	0.57	3	9.68	166
Naresh Nebhinani	AIIMS-Jodhpur	29	379	13.07	1.15	0	0.00	341
Pratima Murthy	NIHMANS-Bangalore	28	148	5.29	0.47	4	14.29	85
Mathews Varghese	NIHMANS-Bangalore	27	510	18.89	1.67	3	11.11	219
Shiv Gautam	Gautam Hospital & Research Centre (GHRC), Jaipur	27	821	30.41	2.68	0	0.00	142
Adarsh Tripathi	KGMU-Lucknow	26	821	31.58	2.78	1	3.85	278
Vivek Benegal	NIHMANS-Bangalore	26	294	11.31	1.00	1	3.85	165
G. Venkatasubramanian	NIHMANS-Bangalore	24	595	24.79	2.19	1	4.17	138
Ravi Gupta	AIIMS-Rishikesh	24	744	31.00	2.73	0	0.00	196
Mahesh Gowda	Spandana Health Care (SHC)-Bengaluru	24	393	16.38	1.44	0	0.00	103
Gautam Saha	Clinic Brain Neuropsychiatric Institute and Research Centre, Kolkata	23	722	31.39	2.77	1	4.35	220
Total of top 25 authors		1117	17858	15.99	1.41	61	5.46	5753
Total output		2357	26726	11.34	1.00
Share of top 25 authors in total output		47.39	66.82

TP: Total publications; TC: Total citations; CPP: Citations per paper; RCI: Relative Citation Index; ICP: International Collaborative Papers; TLS: Total Link Strength

BROAD AND NARROW SUBFIELDS

An analysis of thematic focus in the IJP reveals an intense concentration on core psychiatric conditions [Supplementary Table 6]. The most extensively researched subfields are Depression, Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder, Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Bipolar Disorder, and Alcoholism and Alcohol Consumption.

Supplementary Table 6.

List of broad and narrow subfields where major research is published in IJP, 2009-2024

Type of Disorder or Disease	Period Block
	2009-16	2017-24	2009-24
Depression (including Major Depression)	251	451	702
Depression	216	449	665
Major Depression	64	74	138
Psychosis Disorders	239	351	580
Psychosis	82	177	259
Schizophrenia	179	243	422
Schizophreniform Disorders	4	4	8
Paranoid schizophrenia	14	4	22
Schizoaffective disorder	11	13	24
Delusional disorder	7	10	17
Mental Health	117	332	449
Anxiety Disorders	211	606	817
Anxiety	41		309
Anxiety Disorder	59		155
Generalized Anxiety Disorders	18	20	38
Panic Disorders	16	21	37
Agrophobia	5	12	17
Separate Anxiety Disorders	2	3	5
Social Phobia	8	21	29
Substance Use and Disorder	108	182	290
Alcoholism and Alcohol Consumption	57	131	188
Drug Dependence	16	94	110
Substance Use and Disorder	9	67	76
Substance Abuse	33	36	69
Opiate	10	39	49
Opiate Addition	10	35	45
Tobacco Dependence	7	31	38
Cannabis	10	26	36
Mood Disorder (including Bipolar Disorder)	108	182	290
Mood Disorder	47	61	108
Bipolar Disorder	69	143	212
Suicide	80	132	212
Suicide	58	96	154
Suicide Attempt	47	41	88
Suicide Ideation	13	66	79
Suicide Behavior	15	43	58
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder	53	105	158
Sleep Disorders	44	108	152
Sleep Disorders	28	70	98
Insomnia	18	46	64
Stress	51	142	193
Stress	12	47	59
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder	18	47	65
Mental Stress	5	25	30
Emotional Stress	8	20	28
Psychological Stress	0	34	34
Distress Syndrome	25	63	88
Personality Disorder	22	60	82
Behavior Disorder	10	46	56
Neurodevelopment Disorders	39	117	156
Attention Deficit Disorder	22	45	67
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder	4	24	28
Autism Spectrum Disorders	16	53	69
Learning Disorders	8	15	23
Gilles De La Tourette Syndrome	4	6	10
Neurological Diseases	23	21	44
Alzheimer Disease	17	11	28
Parkinson Disease	8	12	20
Neurocognitive Disease	43	75	118
Dementia	32	42	74
Delirium	13	42	55
Seizure Disorders	36	70	106
Epilepsy	19	20	39
Seizure	18	56	74
Neurological Condition	7	15	22
Stroke	6	3	9
Traumatic Brain Injury	1	9	10
Multiple Sclerosis	0	3	3
Somatoform Disorders	10	27	37
Conversion Disorders	5	4	9
Body Dimorphic Disorders	5	23	28

SIGNIFICANT KEYWORDS

Figure 1 illustrates the intellectual landscape of the journal through a VOSviewer keyword co-occurrence analysis, which groups 100 significant keywords [Supplementary Table 7] into four distinct thematic clusters with a TLS of 23,509. The largest group, Cluster 1 (Red), centers on psychological wellbeing and social determinants; it is anchored by dominant terms such as “Mental Disease” (632 occurrences), “Anxiety”, “Suicide”, “Social Support”, and “Stress”. Cluster 2 (Green) represents the clinical and pharmacological research front, focusing on severe psychiatric illnesses and interventions. Key terms include “Psychosis” and “Bipolar Disorder,” alongside frequent references to pharmacotherapies like “Olanzapine,” “Risperidone,” and “Electroconvulsive therapy,” highlighting a deep integration between psychopathology and medical treatment.

Figure 1.

Most significant co-occurrence keyword network

Supplementary Table 7.

Top 100 most significant keywords

Keyword	Occurrences	Cluster	Links	Total Link Strength
Mental Disease	632	1	99	2686
Mental Health	449	1	97	1549
Anxiety	309	1	97	1720
Anxiety Disorder	155	3	94	966
Psychiatry	263	1	90	830
Psychosis	256	2	97	1579
Bipolar Disorder	209	2	98	1321
Psychotherapy	174	1	96	969
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder	158	3	93	958
Olanzapine	154	2	92	1079
Suicide	143	1	90	647
Coronavirus Disease 2019	138	1	82	479
Major Depression	138	3	89	699
Cognition	137	1	95	734
Electroconvulsive Therapy	135	2	90	744
Risperidone	129	2	93	920
Mental Health Care	127	1	74	357
Drug Dependence	110	1	88	566
Cognitive Defect	108	4	91	648
Fluoxetine	107	2	90	844
Mood Disorder	106	3	91	628
Education	102	1	85	383
Drug Withdrawal	101	2	67	446
Psychoeducation	101	1	93	691
Escitalopram	100	2	92	744
Neuroleptic Agent	98	2	86	642
Sleep Disorder	98	2	92	642
Antidepressant Agent	93	2	91	703
Clozapine	90	2	88	681
Distress Syndrome	88	1	81	419
Haloperidol	88	2	89	727
Suicide Attempt	88	1	87	434
Social Status	86	1	91	370
Alcohol Consumption	83	1	78	332
Clonazepam	82	2	94	609
Sertraline	82	2	92	665
Dsm-5	81	1	95	473
Social Support	81	1	82	397
Valproic Acid	81	2	90	639
Lorazepam	77	2	90	644
Suicidal Ideation	77	1	88	478
Aripiprazole	76	2	89	685
Substance Use	76	1	77	329
Dementia	74	4	80	351
Seizure	74	2	86	469
Autism	69	3	85	432
Substance Abuse	69	1	82	356
Emotion	68	1	75	278
Attention Deficit Disorder	67	3	86	366
Benzodiazepine	65	2	85	445
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder	65	1	87	478
Disability	62	3	68	271
Headache	61	3	84	368
Hypertension	61	4	79	345
Psychotropic Agent	60	2	83	449
Social Psychology	60	1	86	303
Yoga	60	1	65	204
Fatigue	59	1	86	390
Stress	59	1	74	217
Lithium	57	2	78	448
Remission	57	2	75	299
Sexual Dysfunction	57	1	76	275
Behavior Disorder	56	3	80	301
Suicidal Behavior	56	1	80	312
Delirium	55	2	84	386
Addiction	54	1	64	195
Aggression	54	2	80	322
Sexual Behavior	54	1	76	250
Diabetes Mellitus	51	4	74	293
Beck Depression Inventory	48	1	73	251
Mental Deficiency	48	3	67	207
Hallucination	45	2	69	255
Opiate Addiction	45	1	57	172
Auditory Hallucination	44	2	70	278
Fear	42	2	59	177
Intellectual Impairment	41	3	66	214
Epilepsy	39	3	77	240
Buprenorphine	35	1	55	132
Physiological Stress	34	1	65	192
Sleep Quality	33	1	73	190
Erectile Dysfunction	31	1	69	162
Mood Stabilizer	31	2	62	275
Neurosis	31	1	65	195
Eating Disorder	30	3	69	187
Mental Stress	30	1	62	179
Alzheimer Disease	28	4	59	144
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder	28	3	28	214
Emotional Stress	28	1	61	159
Catatonia	27	2	63	195
Schizoaffective Psychosis	24	2	70	201
Dysthymia	23	3	55	138
Learning Disorder	23	3	40	114
Paranoid Schizophrenia	22	2	42	93
Persecutory Delusion	22	2	47	136
Agoraphobia	17	3	60	127
Oppositional Defiant Disorder	13	3	56	103
Substance Use Disorders	13	1	19	44
Anhedonia	11	1	43	61
Gilles De La Tourette Syndrome	10	2	40	68
Mixed Dementia	9	4	34	56

The remaining clusters address specialized and intersectional domains. Cluster 3 (Blue) focuses on internalizing and neuro-developmental disorders, linking emotional and cognitive health through terms like “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” “Major Depression,” “Autism,” and “Attention Deficit Disorder.” Cluster 4 (Yellow), the smallest group, underscores the multidisciplinary intersection of psychiatry, neurology, and internal medicine. It groups neurodegenerative and physical comorbidities such as “Cognitive Deficits,” “Dementia,” “Hypertension,” and “Diabetes.”

CITATIONS BY INDIAN AND FOREIGN SCHOLARS

An analysis of 21,954 citations (out of a total 26,726) received by IJP publications between 2009 and 2024 reveals that authors from India remain the primary citing nation (6,552 citations), followed by authors from the United States of America (4,295), the United Kingdom (1,791), and China (1,507). At the same time, domestic citation is driven by apex institutions like NIMHANS, Bangalore and PGIMER, Chandigarh. However, the papers of IJP are also cited by authors from King’s College London, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Toronto. Furthermore, it is evident that, in addition to the papers of IJP being cited in journals published in India, IJP publications are also frequently cited in international journals, such as the Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Frontiers in Psychiatry, and PLoS One [Supplementary Table 8].

Supplementary Table 8.

Leading citing authors

Country	Foreign countries
India (6552)	US (4295), UK (1791), China (1507), Australia (1100), Canada (1023), Italy (830), Iran (792), Germany (682), Turkey (658), Spain (596), Brazil (521), Netherlands (385), Poland (365), South Africa (362), Saudi Arabia (356), South Korea (354), France (348)
Indian authors (citations)	Foreign Authors (Citations)
S. Grover (208 citations), V. Menon (103), C. Andrade (100), S. B. Math (98), J. Thirthalli (97), N. Manjunatha (96), S.K. Kar (95), C.N. Kumar (94), A. Avasthi (94), S. Sarkar (90), B. N. Gangadhar (78) and S. Sahoo (66)	S. M.Y Arafat (Bangladesh) (42 citations), V.Pakh (USA) (38). M. Pompili (Italy) (31), V.Ventriglio (Italy) (29), S.Hallit (Lebanon) (29), G.Serafini (Italy) (26), R.S.McIntyre (Canada) (26), A.Nadkarni (UK) (25), E.A. Storch (USA) (24) and D.J. Stein (S.Africa) (23)
Indian Organizations (Citations)	Foreign Organizations (Citations)
NIMHANS-Bangalore (1095), PGIMER-Chandigarh (414), AIIMS-New Delhi (413), MAHE-Manipal (206), KGMU-Lucknow (204), MHFW-New Delhi (169), JIPMER-Pondicherry (168), KMC-Manipal (137), Christ University-Bangalore (126), JSSMCH-Mysore (120), SJNAHS-Bangalore (113), AIIMS-Jodhpur (114), CMC-Vellore (106, ICMR-New Delhi (104) and JSSAHER-Bangalore (102)	Kings College London, UK (291 Citations), Harvard Medical School, USA) (273), University of Toronto, Canada (251), University of Melbourne (220), Centro de InvestgacionBiomedica En Red de Sae (143) University College London UK (140), Inserm (133), Universidade de São Paulo (133), Monash University (126) Tehran University of Medical Sciences (120), SapienzaUniversità di Roma (116), UNSW Sydney (114), Massachusetts General Hospital (112), Université McGill (109).
Indian Journals	Foreign Journals
Indian Journal of Psychiatry (672), Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine (399), Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry (183), Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (83), Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice (66), Indian Journal of Medical Research (45), Indian Journal of Community Medicine (43), Medical Journal of Dr D Y PatilVidyapeeth (31), Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (28), Annals of Neurosciences (22), Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine (21), Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (21), Neurology India (20) Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (20) Medical Journal Armed Forces India (19), Indian Pediatrics (19).	Asian Journal of Psychiatry (346), Frontiers in Psychiatry (339), Plos One (266), International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (254), BMC Psychiatry (206), Journal of Affective Disorders (180), Frontiers in Psychology (142) Psychiatry Research (140), Scientific Reports (117), Frontiers in Public Health (117), BMJ Open (113) BMC Public Health (112) and International Journal of Social Psychiatry (100)

High-cited papers (HCPs)

The analysis of the top 30 HCPs published between 2009 and 2024 highlights the disproportionate impact of a small fraction of research on the journal’s overall visibility. These 30 papers, representing only 1.27% of the total output, accumulated 5,029 citations, accounting for nearly 19% of the journal’s total citation count. These influential papers are is defined by high collaboration rates, with 27 papers involving multi-institutional partnerships. Authors from NIMHANS, Bangalore, emerged as the leading contributors with six papers, followed by authors from PGIMER, Chandigarh, who contributed to four of the high-cited papers. Among individual authors, S. Grover and A. Avasthi contributed to four of these papers, followed by R Chadda (3 papers), T S S Rao (3 papers), S. Sahoo (3 papers), S. Gautam (2 papers), C Andrade (2 papers), and V. Vahia (2 papers) [Supplementary Table 9].

Supplementary Table 9.

List of Top 30 highly cited papers

Name of authors	Title	Source	Citations
Chadda, R.K., Deb, K.S.	Indian family systems, collectivistic society and psychotherapy	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55 (SPEC. SUPPL.), pp. S299–S309	425
Vahia, V.N.	Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 5: A quick glance	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55 (3), pp. 220–223	354
Murthy, R.S.	National mental health survey of India 2015-2016	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2017. 59(1), pp. 21–26	294
Dalal, P.K., Agarwal, M.	Postmenopausal syndrome	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2015, 57, pp. 222–232	263
Grover, S., Sahoo, S et al	Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown: An online survey from India	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2020, 62(4), pp. 354–362	252
Gupta, R., Grover, S et al	Changes in sleep pattern and sleep quality during COVID-19 lockdown	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2020, 62(4), pp. 370–378	240
Rao, T.S.S., Andrade, C.	The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2011, 53(2), pp. 95–96	183
Vijayakumar, L.	Suicide in women	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2015, 57, pp. 233–238	180
Mohandas, E., Rajmohan, V., Raghunath, B.	Neurobiology of Alzheimer′s disease	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2009, 51(1), pp. 55–61	179
Goel, D., Subramanyam, A., Kamath, R.	A study on the prevalence of internet addiction and its association with psychopathology in Indian adolescents	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55(2), pp. 140–143	170
Gautam, S., Jain, A. et al	Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of Depression	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,59(5), pp. S34–S50	169
Memon, A.M., Sharma, S.G. et al.	The role of online social networking on deliberate self-harm and suicidality in adolescents: A systematized review of literature	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2018, 60(4), pp. 384–392	165
Radhakrishnan, R., Andrade, C	Suicide: An Indian perspective	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2012, 54(4), pp. 304–319	165
Kalra, G., Bhugra, D.	Sexual violence against women: Understanding cross-cultural intersections	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55(3), pp. 244–249	153
Gautam, M., Agrawal, M. et al	Role of antioxidants in generalised anxiety disorder and depression	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2012, 54(3), pp. 244–247	150
Chadda, R.K.	Caring for the family caregivers of persons with mental illness	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2014, 56(3), pp. 221–227	147
Avasthi, A.	Preserve and strengthen family to promote mental health	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2010, 52(2), pp. 113–126	122
Garg, K., Kumar, C.N., Chandra, P.S.	Number of psychiatrists in India: Baby steps forward, but a long way to go	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2019, 61(1), pp. 104–10	118
Malhotra, S., Shah, R.	Women and mental health in India: An overview	Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2015, 57, pp. 205–211	117
Chatterjee, S.S., Bhattacharyya, R. et al.	Attitude, practice, behavior, and mental health impact of COVID-19 on doctors	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2020, 62(3), pp. 257–265	115
Rai, S., Pathak, A., Sharma, I.	Postpartum psychiatric disorders: Early diagnosis and management	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2015, 57, pp. 216–221	115
Srikala, B., Kishore Kumar, K.V.	Empowering adolescents with life skills education in schools-School mental health program: Does it work	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2010, 52(4), pp. 344–34	114
Hezel, D., Simpson, H.	Exposure and response prevention for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A review and new directions	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2019, 61(7), pp. S85–S92	109
Sabry, W.M., Vohra, A.	Role of Islam in the management of Psychiatric disorders	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55(SPEC. SUPPL.), pp. S205–S214	108
Kishore, J., Gupta, A et al.	Myths, beliefs and perceptions about mental disorders and health-seeking behavior in Delhi, India	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2011, 53(4), pp. 324–329	108
Satyanarayana, V.A., Lukose, A., Srinivasan, K	Maternal mental health in pregnancy and child behavior	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2011, 53(4), pp. 351–361	105
Grover, S., Sahoo, S. et al.	Psychological problems and burnout among medical professionals of a tertiary care hospital of North India: A cross-sectional study	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2018, 60(2), pp. 175–188	104
Pompili, M., Shrivastava, A et al.	Bereavement after the suicide of a significant other	Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2013, 55(3), pp. 256–26	104
Lahariya, C., Singhal, S. et al	Pathway of care among psychiatric patients attending a mental health institution in central India	Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2010, 52(4), pp. 333–338	102
Gupta, S., Kulhara, P.	What is schizophrenia: A neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative disorder or a combination of both A critical analysis	Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2010, 52(1), pp. 21–27	100

DISCUSSION

The bibliometric assessment of the IJP from 2009 to 2024 reveals that the journal is in a phase of significant robust growth, mirroring the broader positive trends observed in Indian medical publishing. Between 2009 and 2024, the journal’s Impact Factor increased eightfold, rising from 0.384 in 2010 to a peak of 3.1 in 2022, while the total publication output grew at an annual average rate of 9.16%. The rise in these metrics underscores a notable improvement in the journal’s academic reputation, particularly since 2020, thereby solidifying its standing in psychiatric research. This upward trajectory aligns with similar trends noted for other Indian journals.[8,9,10]

Over the years, the journal has predominantly published papers from Indian authors. However, the number of papers from authors from other countries has almost doubled in recent years (2017–2024) compared to earlier years (2009–2016). A lower number of publications in the earlier years could be attributed to the lower IF of the journal, compared to the impact factor in the recent years, especially when the IF peaked in the year 2022. Additionally, the increase in papers from authors from other countries may also be related to improvements in CiteScore and SJR, as well as the expansion of the Indian diaspora in various countries.

However, the publication of papers with authors from 74 more countries reflects that the journal is more widely accepted internationally and has an international reputation.

Over the years, the articles published in IJP have been cited widely with an average CPP of 11.33, suggesting that every paper published in IJP is cited at least 11 times. Another important finding is that 81.3% of the papers published in the journal are cited at least once. These findings again reflect the quality of publications in the journal. Although the papers published in the earlier period (2009–2016) achieved a higher CPP of 17.22 compared to 7.93 for papers published in the later period (2017–2024), this decline could be attributed to the lag time required for recent publications to accrue citations despite increased productivity.

However, an important thing to note is that the journal’s IF, Cite Score, and SJR have been driven by a small number of publications (about 4.3%) that have been cited more than 50 times. This suggests that there is still scope for improvement in the selection of articles for publication. When one examines the HCPs, it is apparent that articles focusing on COVID-related research were more often cited. This pattern may reflect the general trend seen for higher citations of papers related to COVID-19 published during the initial part of the pandemic. Overall, the IJP relies on a small fraction of high-quality contributions to significantly elevate its overall standing in the global scholarly community.

In terms of publication types, IJP is a journal with a primary focus on publishing original research articles, followed by Letters to the Editor and review articles. In terms of citations, the original research and reviews remain the core drivers of the journal’s influence, collectively accounting for nearly 88% of all citations. These findings suggest that the original research published in the journal is widely read and cited. Another important finding that is evident is that conference papers, that is, award papers, are more often cited than other types of papers. This reflects the quality of the data-based award papers and orations, which are of a higher quality compared to other kinds of publications.

A core finding of this study is the definitive shift from single-author contributions to multiauthor, collaborative research. This also reflects the evolution of psychiatric research toward greater teamwork, institutional cooperation, and interdisciplinary engagement. Across the 16 years, the authorship pattern reveals a progressive transformation in the research culture of the IJP from individual-driven studies to collaborative, team-oriented research endeavours. This evolution reflects the broader global trend in scientific publishing, where interdisciplinary research teams and networked collaborations contribute to higher productivity, diversified expertise, and greater research impact.

In terms of field of research, the higher frequency of keywords like depression, anxiety and anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and alcoholism and alcohol consumption reflect the commonly researched areas in the country.

In terms of institutional distribution of publications, the current bibliometric analysis reveals that the premier institutes in the country contribute disproportionately to the journal’s publications, which are cited more frequently. These findings can be interpreted in different ways. First, this may be a reflection of the research culture in the premier institutes. Additionally, this finding reflects higher access to funding and the ability to carry out better-quality research. However, this finding also reflects a differential research culture and infrastructure in the majority of institutes in the country, suggesting a need to improve these aspects.

The findings of the present analysis must be interpreted in the light of its limitations. First, this analysis was based on the SCOPUS database, which provides a more conservative estimate of the citations compared to the Google Scholar database. The findings of disproportionate representation of research from certain institutes and researchers do not necessarily reflect the overall research output from the country. Many authors with similar or better-quality research publish their papers in various international journals with more favorable indexing parameters. The analysis of the data was limited to 16 years only. Accordingly, the findings do not accurately reflect the journal’s overall publication pattern since its inception. The reduction in the CPP for recent years reflects a shorter time frame for these citations to accrue, rather than the quality of the research. We could not find bibliometric analysis for a psychiatric journal. Hence, we could not compare the findings of the present study with the existing data for a psychiatric journal.

CONCLUSION

The bibliometric analysis of the IJP (2009–2024) highlights a transformative era characterized by an eightfold increase in Impact Factor and a consistent rise in scholarly output. The journal has evolved into a hub for collaborative research, where domestic apex institutions, such as NIMHANS and PGIMER, drive the publication volume, while international partnerships significantly enhance the citation impact. Thematically, the publication landscape remains anchored in core clinical areas like depression and schizophrenia yet displays remarkable agility in addressing emerging challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a skewed citation distribution where a small elite cohort of papers garners the majority of attention, the journal’s overall metrics reflect a strengthening academic reputation and global reach. Future growth will likely depend on leveraging these strengths to internationalize authorship further and broaden the global dissemination of Indian psychiatric research.

Use of AI

The Grammarly software was used for language editing. No AI tool was used to write the manuscript.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Supplementary Figure 1

Network Collaboration map of top 13 most collaborative countries

Funding Statement

Nil.