Translate this page into:
A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice (2010–2025)
*Corresponding author: Raju Vaishya, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India. raju.vaishya@gmail.com
-
Received: ,
Accepted: ,
How to cite this article: Vaishya R, Agrawal A, Gupta BM, Mamdapur GMN, Singh A, Chaman Sab M, et al. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice (2010–2025). J Neurosci Rural Pract. doi: 10.25259/JNRP_23_2026
Abstract
Objectives:
The Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice (JNRP), launched in 2010 as an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, has emerged as a platform addressing neurological disorders in rural and resource-limited settings. Despite 16 years of publication, a comprehensive bibliometric evaluation of its scholarly performance has not previously been undertaken. The objective of the study is to systematically map the journal’s publication output, citation impact, authorship patterns, institutional contributions, international collaboration networks, funding profile, highly cited papers (HCPs), and thematic evolution from 2010 to 2025.
Materials and Methods:
A total of 2,386 records indexed in Scopus (retrieved January 2026) were analyzed. Bibliometric indicators including total publications, citations, citations per paper (CPP), h-index, relative citation index, document types, funding patterns, and citation distribution were computed using Microsoft Excel. Co-authorship, country collaboration, and keyword co-occurrence networks were visualized using VOSviewer.
Results:
JNRP published 2,386 documents (mean 149/year), accruing 14,339 citations (CPP 6.01; h-index 40). Output peaked in 2013 and 2017, with earlier publications demonstrating higher citation impact. India contributed 62.7% of publications, while 73 countries participated overall; international collaboration accounted for 17%. Citation distribution was skewed, with 27% uncited and 3% of papers contributing over one-quarter of total citations. Reviews showed the highest impact (CPP 18.16). Funding was limited (1.68% papers). Leading institutions included the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences campuses. Thematic clusters identified five major domains: neurosurgery/trauma, epilepsy/mental health, neuroimaging/symptomatology, tumors/spine, and cerebrovascular risk factors. Twenty-six HCPs (≥50 citations) accounted for substantial citation share.
Conclusion:
JNRP has established itself as a significant India-centric yet internationally engaged journal focusing on rural neuroscience. While demonstrating competitive citation impact and thematic diversity, the journal would benefit from stronger multinational collaboration, enhanced funding support, and strategic thematic expansion to further strengthen its global influence in brain health research.
Keywords
Bibliometrics
Citation analysis
Neurosciences
Periodicals as topic
Rural health
INTRODUCTION
Evaluating the performance and scholarly influence of neuroscience journals is essential for maintaining quality standards, guiding researchers toward appropriate publication venues, supporting academic appraisal, and assisting libraries in collection management. Such assessments facilitate identification of impactful and reliable research across basic and clinical neuroscience, thereby promoting transparency and scientific rigor in a rapidly expanding field.[1,2]
Journals remain the primary medium of scholarly communication, and their perceived quality is widely regarded as an indicator of research excellence.[3,4] Publication in reputable journals is often used as a proxy for scholarly productivity, influencing promotion, tenure, and institutional prestige.[5-10] For researchers, journal evaluation aids in selecting suitable outlets and enhancing visibility, while editors and publishers use such analyses to refine editorial standards, strengthen peer review, and identify emerging subfields.[11,12] Librarians rely on these evaluations for evidence-based serial management.[13]
Bibliometric methods provide a systematic framework to assess publication trends, citation impact, authorship patterns, institutional productivity, collaboration networks, and thematic evolution within journals or research domains. They help identify influential contributors and emerging directions, offering actionable insights for scholars and policymakers. Several studies have mapped neuroscience research outputs at national and regional levels, including India and South Asia,[14-18] and evaluated individual journals such as Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,[19] Neuroinformatics,[20] International Journal of Mental Health Systems,[21] and Turkish Journal of Psychology.[22] However, a comprehensive bibliometric assessment of the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice (JNRP) has been lacking.
Established in 2010, JNRP has developed as an open-access quarterly focusing on neurological disorders in rural and resource-limited settings. Despite its growing contributions to clinical neurology, neurosurgery, neurotrauma, and public health neuroscience, its scholarly trajectory has not been systematically examined. This study addresses that gap by analyzing 16 years (2010–2025) of JNRP publications indexed in Scopus, mapping productivity trends, citation performance, collaboration networks, institutional contributions, and thematic structure to elucidate its scientific influence and future directions in rural neuroscience research.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study employed a descriptive bibliometric research design to systematically examine publication patterns, citation performance, authorship trends, institutional contributions, international collaboration networks, and thematic evolution in the JNRP over 16 years, spanning 2010 to 2025.
The primary data source was the Scopus database, selected for its comprehensive coverage of peer-reviewed literature in clinical neurology and neuroscience, including the journal’s indexing since its early years. The document retrieval was conducted in January 2026 using a precise search strategy in the Scopus advanced search interface to ensure completeness and accuracy:
SRCTITLE (“Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice”) OR SRCTITLE (“Journal of Neurosciences”) AND LIMIT-TO (EXACTSRCTITLE, “Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice”).
This query retrieved 2,386 records (articles, reviews, letters, editorials, notes, and other document types) unambiguously linked to the journal. All metadata fields were exported in.csv and.ris formats, including author names and affiliations, institutional addresses, country of origin, publication year, document type, funding acknowledgments, cited references, times cited, keywords (author and indexed), and abstracts (where available). Data cleaning and standardization were performed to address inconsistencies in author names, institutional affiliations, and country names (e.g., merging variants such as “AIIMS New Delhi” and “All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi”).
We studied both journal-level metrics (total publications, growth trends, international diversity, etc.) and article-level metrics (citations per paper [CPP], citation distribution, highly cited papers [HCPs], document-type impact, etc.) in this study. Quantitative indicators were calculated using Microsoft Excel 2016, including annual publication output, citation counts, CPP, relative citation index (RCI), h-index, and shares of Indian versus foreign contributions. Qualitative and network analyses – such as co-authorship networks (authors and countries), institutional collaboration maps, and keyword co-occurrence clusters – were visualized and interpreted using VOSviewer version 1.6.20 (https://www.vosviewer.com/), applying appropriate thresholds (e.g., minimum documents per author/country, minimum keyword occurrences) and default clustering parameters.
The analysis focused on key bibliometric dimensions: Temporal trends, most productive and influential contributors (authors, institutions, and countries), collaboration patterns (intra- and international), citation distribution, and HCPs – the ones with 50 or more citations, document types, subject focus (neurological disorders and research designs), funding sources, and thematic structure through keyword mapping. As this study is a bibliometric analysis based exclusively on publicly available secondary data from the Scopus database and does not involve human participants, patient data, or identifiable information, Institutional Ethics Committee approval was not required.
RESULTS
Publications and trends
The JNRP published a total of 2,386 documents between 2010 and 2025, averaging 149.13 items per year. Publication output showed fluctuations without consistent growth or decline, peaking in 2013 (219 papers) and 2017 (229 papers). The overall annual growth rate was 10.10%. Output was higher in the first 8 years (2010–2017: 1,284 papers, average 160.5 per year) compared to the subsequent period (2018– 2025: 1,102 papers, average ~137.75 per year), reflecting a modest cumulative decline in recent years [Table 1].
| Overall growth of publications | Indian contributions | Foreign contributions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | TP | TC | CPP | TP | TC | CPP | TP | TC | CPP |
| 2010 | 45 | 420 | 9.33 | 39 | 36 | 0.92 | 8 | 61 | 7.63 |
| 2011 | 68 | 854 | 12.56 | 39 | 412 | 10.56 | 31 | 472 | 15.23 |
| 2012 | 149 | 1385 | 9.30 | 74 | 835 | 11.28 | 78 | 586 | 7.51 |
| 2013 | 219 | 1479 | 6.75 | 104 | 804 | 7.73 | 118 | 709 | 6.01 |
| 2014 | 196 | 1160 | 5.92 | 103 | 802 | 7.79 | 97 | 399 | 4.11 |
| 2015 | 179 | 1420 | 7.93 | 89 | 835 | 9.38 | 91 | 602 | 6.62 |
| 2016 | 199 | 1207 | 6.07 | 126 | 807 | 6.40 | 80 | 436 | 5.45 |
| 2017 | 229 | 1590 | 6.94 | 151 | 1159 | 7.68 | 84 | 464 | 5.52 |
| 2018 | 148 | 1225 | 8.28 | 87 | 798 | 9.17 | 68 | 528 | 7.76 |
| 2019 | 170 | 1040 | 6.12 | 111 | 665 | 5.99 | 65 | 428 | 6.58 |
| 2020 | 147 | 1103 | 7.50 | 94 | 839 | 8.93 | 63 | 656 | 10.41 |
| 2021 | 146 | 693 | 4.75 | 120 | 614 | 5.12 | 35 | 138 | 3.94 |
| 2022 | 137 | 332 | 2.42 | 106 | 253 | 2.39 | 42 | 128 | 3.05 |
| 2023 | 155 | 302 | 1.95 | 107 | 220 | 2.06 | 60 | 106 | 1.77 |
| 2024 | 107 | 112 | 1.05 | 78 | 78 | 1.00 | 37 | 48 | 1.30 |
| 2025 | 92 | 7 | 0.08 | 68 | 6 | 0.09 | 32 | 2 | 0.06 |
| 2010-2017 | 1284 | 9515 | 7.41 | 725 | 5690 | 7.85 | 587 | 3729 | 6.35 |
| 2018-2025 | 1102 | 4824 | 4.38 | 771 | 3473 | 4.50 | 402 | 2034 | 5.06 |
| 2386 | 14339 | 6.01 | 1496 | 9163 | 6.13 | 989 | 5763 | 5.83 | |
TP: Total papers, TC: Total citations, CPP: Citation per paper
Of these, 1,496 (62.7%) originated from India and 989 (41.4%) from foreign countries, with Indian contributions exhibiting steadier volume but lower average annual growth (8.27%) than foreign ones (27.52%). The entire corpus accumulated 14,339 citations, yielding an overall CPP of 6.01. Citation impact was notably higher for earlier publications (2010– 2017: CPP 7.41) than later ones (2018–2025: CPP 4.38), largely attributable to citation maturation time. Indian-authored papers slightly outperformed foreign ones (CPP 6.13 vs. 5.83) [Figure 1].
Publication types
Document types were dominated by original articles (1,475; 62.08%), followed by letters (384; 16.16%), notes (254; 10.69%), editorials (137; 5.77%), and reviews (117; 4.92%). Reviews achieved the highest impact (CPP 18.16), followed by articles (CPP 7.45), while notes, errata, and short surveys received minimal citations.
Citation distribution
Citation distribution was highly skewed, a classic bibliometric pattern. More than half of papers (55.36%; 1,321) received 1–9 citations (34.65% of total citations), while 14.17% (338 papers) garnered 10–29 citations (37.25% share). Only 2.81% (67 papers) achieved 30–82 citations yet contributed 20.78% of citations. A small group of six papers with 101+ citations accounted for 7.31% of total citations, highlighting the concentration of influence. Notably, 644 papers (26.99%) remained uncited [Supplementary Table 1].
Research types
Content analysis revealed a strong focus on adult populations (44.05%; 1,051 papers), followed by adolescents, middle-aged groups, and children. Clinical studies predominated (58.72%; 1,401 papers), with epidemiology (8.59%), outcome assessment (6.75%), and risk-factor studies also prominent. Case reports were the most common design (30.26%; 842 papers), followed by controlled (18.61%), retrospective (8.62%), and cross-sectional studies (7.08%).
Funding
Funding was rare: only 40 papers (1.68%) acknowledged extramural support from 35 agencies. Funded papers achieved higher impact (CPP 7.68). Leading Indian funders included Indian Council of Medical Research (8 papers), National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) (3), and Department of Science and Technology/Indian Institute of Science (2 each); prominent international ones were the US National Institute of General Medical Sciences (3) and National Institutes of Health/UK Research and Innovation (2 each).
Geographical contributions
Geographically, contributions came from 73 countries. Asia dominated (1,780 papers; 74.6%), led overwhelmingly by India (1,496). Europe followed (270 papers; 11.32%), North America (240; 10.06%), Africa (123; 5.16%), South America (76; 3.27%), and Oceania (26; 1.09%). Among continents, Africa and South America showed relatively high CPP (7.71 and 7.22). The top 15 countries accounted for 92.59% of papers and 99.27% of citations [Supplementary Table 2]. India led by volume, while Colombia, Nigeria, and Turkey showed elevated impact (CPP >8; RCI >1.3). Collaboration networks revealed India as the central hub (TLS 91), with the strongest bilateral ties to the United States/US (41 links), the United Kingdom/UK (15), and Colombia (12) [Supplementary Table 3]. VOSviewer co-authorship mapping of countries with ≥22 papers produced nine clusters, highlighting India–United States as the densest linkage and grouping several Latin American, African, and Southeast Asian nations [Figure 2].
Leading institutions
At the institutional level, 160 Indian organizations participated, with the top 20 contributing 882 papers (58.96%) and 5,488 citations (59.89%). NIMHANS, Bangalore, led (215 papers), followed by Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh (99) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi (95). AIIMS, Bhopal, achieved the highest impact (CPP 12.73). The AIIMS network (five institutes) collectively produced 217 papers. Strong intra-Indian collaborations existed, especially among NIMHANS, PGIMER, and various AIIMS campuses (maximum TLS 130 at NIMHANS) [Supplementary Table 4]. Among 18 leading foreign organizations (≥8 papers), high productivity came from institutions in the US, Colombia, Thailand, and Nigeria; exceptional impact was seen at Berea College, Kentucky, US (CPP 38.25), Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia (24.14), and B.P. Koirala Institute, Dharan, Nepal (12.88) [Supplementary Table 5].
Leading authors
Authorship involved 5,683 individuals. The top 21 Indian authors (≥11 papers) produced 363 papers (with a collective share 24.26% of Indian output) and 2,660 citations. D. Shukla (NIMHANS) led in volume (37 papers), while S. Grover (PGIMER) had the highest impact (CPP 16.0). Nine authors exceeded average impact, many affiliated with NIMHANS or AIIMS, Bhopal. VOSviewer co-authorship analysis (≥11 papers) revealed 11 clusters with strong intra-institutional ties, especially within NIMHANS (e.g., Devi, Mahadevan, Shukla cluster) and Ramaiah Medical College [Figure 3].
Among 16 leading foreign authors (≥6 papers), J. Finsterer (Austria) and R. Lakhan (USA) were most prolific; the highest impact belonged to A.M. Rubiano (Colombia; CPP 30.67) and L. Moscote-Salazar (22.43) [Supplementary Tables 6 and 7]. Further citation analysis showed Asia and the US as the main citing regions. Top citing institutions included Harvard Medical School (177 citations to JNRP), NIMHANS (148), and AIIMS, New Delhi (125). Leading citing authors were A. Agrawal (India; 20), A.O. Adeleye (Nigeria; 14), and others.
Leading journals
Self-citations dominated among Indian journals (JNRP itself: 485), while foreign journals citing most were World Neurosurgery (339), Frontiers in Neurology (132), and Surgical Neurology International (111).
Keyword analysis
Thematic distribution highlighted vascular disorders (stroke/ cerebrovascular accidents: 172; brain hemorrhage: 124) and seizure disorders (epilepsy: 134; seizures: 112) as major foci, followed by traumatic brain injury (88), meningitis (48), and dementia (44) [Supplementary Table 8]. Keyword co-occurrence analysis (top 60 terms, min. 5 occurrences) identified five thematic clusters (1,301 links; TLS 6,275). Cluster 1 (blue) centered on neurosurgery/trauma (e.g., neurosurgery 123, hydrocephalus 91); Cluster 2 (red) on epilepsy/mental health (depression 130, epilepsy 99); Cluster 3 (yellow, dominant) on symptoms/imaging (headache 343, neuroimaging 273); Cluster 4 (pink) on tumors/spine; Cluster 5 (light blue) on cerebrovascular risks (stroke 79, hypertension 120) [Figure 4].
HCPs
Twenty-six HCPs (≥50 citations) contributed 2,303 citations (average 88.58 CPP), including 14 articles and 12 reviews. India dominated (18 papers), followed by Colombia (4) and the US (3). NIMHANS and PGIMER featured prominently. Top-cited works addressed COVID-19 mental health (287 citations), cranioplasty techniques (273), and brain abscess management (126) [Table 2].
| S. No. | Authors | Affiliation | Title | Source | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakhan, R., Agrawal, A., Sharma, M. | Berea College, Berea, USA; AIIMS-Bhopal; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA | Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress during COVID-19 Pandemic (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2020, 11 (4), pp. 519–525 | 287 |
| 2 | Aydin, S., Kucukyuruk, B., Abuzayed, B., Aydin, S., Sanus, G.Z |
University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey; İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey; Princess Basma Teaching Hospital, Turkey; | Cranioplasty: Review of materials and techniques (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2011, 2 (2), pp. 162–167 | 273 |
| 3 | Whelan, P., Remski, K. | Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, UK; Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK | Buprenorphine versus methadone treatment: A review of evidence in both developed and developing worlds (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2012, 3 (1), pp. 45–50 | 162 |
| 4 | Alvis-Miranda, H., Castellar-Leones, S., Elzain, M., Moscote-Salazar, L. |
Colombian Foundation Center for Epilepsy and Neurological Diseases-FIRE, Bolivar, Colombia; Neuromuscular diseases Center, Bogota, Colombia; King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Colombian Clinical Research Group in Neurocritical Care, Bogota, Colombia | Brain abscess: Current management (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2013, 4 (5 SUPPL), pp. S67–S81 | 126 |
| 5 | Gupta, A., Dwivedi, T. | Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India; AIIMS-New Delhi | A simplified overview of the World Health Organization classification update of central nervous system tumors 2016 (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2017, 8 (4), pp. 629–641 | 105 |
| 6 | Alvis-Miranda, H., Castellar-Leones, S., Alcala-Cerra, G., Moscote-Salazar, L. | Colombian Foundation Center for Epilepsy and Neurological Diseases-FIRE, Bolivar, Colombia; Neuromuscular diseases Center, Bogota, Colombia; Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia; Colombian Clinical Research Group in Neurocritical Care, Bogota, Colombia; | Cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2013, 4 (4), pp. 427–438 | 101 |
| 7 | Yadav, Y.R., Parihar, V., Pande, S., Namdev, H., Agarwal, M. |
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital, Jabalpur, India | Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2012, 3 (2), pp. 163–173 | 83 |
| 8 | Dhandapani, S.S., Manju, D., Sharma, B.S., Mahapatra, A.K |
PGIMER-Chandigarh; AIIMS-New Delhi; Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad, India; Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, India | Prognostic significance of age in traumatic brain injury (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2012, 3 (2), pp. 131–135 | 80 |
| 9 | Obulesu, M., Rao, D.M. | University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India; Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, India | Effect of plant extracts on Alzheimer’s disease: An insight into therapeutic avenues (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2011, 2 (1), pp. 56–61 | 79 |
| 10 | Grover, S., Somaiya, M., Kumar, S., Avasthi, A. |
PGIMER-Chandigarh; BYL Nair Charitable Hospital and TN Medical College, Mumbai, India; NIMHANS-Bangalore | Psychiatric aspects of Parkinson’s disease (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2015, 6 (1), pp. 65–76 | 71 |
| 11 | Winter, Y., Korchounov, A., Zhukova, T.V., Bertschi, N.E | Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes Medizinische. Homburg, Germany; Marienhospital Kevelaer, Kevelaer, Germany; Rostov State Medical University, Rostov, Russian Federation; N.V. Sklifosovsky Res. Inst. F., Moscow, Russian Federation | Depression in elderly patients with Alzheimer’s dementia or vascular dementia and its influence on their quality of life (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2011, 2 (1), pp. 27–32 | 67 |
| 12 | Shah, R., Raju, V.V., Sharma, A., Grover, S. | Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE; PGIMER-Chandigarh; | Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among rural, urban, and tribal children (1–10 years of Age) (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2017, 8 (3), pp. 368–374 | 66 |
| 13 | Raina, S.K., Chander, V., Bhardwaj, A.K., Singh, M., Bhardwaj, A. |
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Kangra, India; Professor and Head, Mandi, India; MM Medical College, Solan, India; ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India; | Guidelines for pharmacotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease – A primer on FDA-approved drugs (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2017, 8 (3), pp. 368–374 | 65 |
| 14 | Varadharajan, A; Davis, A. D; Ghosh, A; Jagtap, T; Menon, A, J; Roy, D; Gandhi, S; Gregor, D. |
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; | Guidelines for pharmacotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease – A primer on FDA-approved drugs (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2023, 14 (4), pp. 566–573 | 63 |
| 15 | Palve, S.S., Palve, S.B. | Coordinator Medical Education Unit, Dehradun, India; Symbiosis Medical College for Women’s Institution, Pune, India | Impact of aging on nerve conduction velocities and late responses in healthy individuals (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2018, 9 (1), pp. 112–116 | 63 |
| 16 | Saxena, S., Sahay, A., Goel, P. | People’s University, Bhopal, India; Gannon University, Erie, United States; AIIMS-Bhopal | Effect of fluoride exposure on the intelligence of school children in Madhya Pradesh, India (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2012, 3 (2), pp. 144–149 | 63 |
| 17 | Rubiano, A M; Vera, D S; Montenegro, J.H; Carney, N; Clavijo, A; + 22 authors |
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom+27 authors | Recommendations of the Colombian Consensus Committee for the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury in Prehospital, Emergency Department, Surgery, and Intensive Care (Beyond One Option for Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury: A Stratified Protocol (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2020, 11 (1), pp. 7–22 | 59 |
| 18 | Brown, J.B., Kheng, M., Carney, N.A., Rubiano, A.M., Puyana, J.C. | University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, United States; Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, United States; OHSU School of Medicine, Portland, United States; Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland | Geographical disparity and traumatic brain injury in America: Rural areas suffer poorer outcomes (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2019, 10 (1), pp. 10–15 | 59 |
| 19 | Jayaraman, K., Rangasami, R., Chandrasekharan, A. | Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India | Magnetic resonance imaging findings in viral encephalitis: A pictorial essay (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2018, 9 (4), pp. 556–560 | 56 |
| 20 | Nagaraj, K., Taly, A.B., Gupta, A., Prasad, C., Christopher, R. | King’s College London, London, UK; Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bengaluru, India; NIMHANS, Bangalore | Prevalence of fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis and its effect on the quality of life (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2013, 4 (3), pp. 278–28 | 56 |
| 21 | Kamal, V., Agrawal, D., Pandey, R. | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, India; AIIMS-New Delhi | Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of traumatic brain injury: Evidence from an integrated level 1 trauma center in India (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2016, 7 (4), pp. 515–525 | 55 |
| 22 | Moiyadi, A., Shetty, P. | Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India | Objective assessment of the utility of intraoperative ultrasound in resection of central nervous system tumors: A cost-effective tool for intraoperative navigation in neurosurgery (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2011, 2 (1), pp. 4–11 | 55 |
| 23 | Singh, A; Vyas, V; Maontani, E; Cartelli, D; Parazzoli, D; +5 authors |
European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM), Milan, Italy; Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Switzerland; Department of Biology, University of Milan, Italy; Fondazione IFOM (Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare), IFOM-IEO Campus, Milan, Italy | Investigation of in vitro cytotoxicity of the redox state of ionic iron in neuroblastoma cells (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2012, 3 (3), pp. 301–310 | 53 |
| 24 | Walke, S.C., Chandrasekaran, V., Mayya, S.S. |
Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal, India; | Caregiver burden among caregivers of mentally ill individuals and their coping mechanisms (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2018, 9 (2), pp. 180–185 | 52 |
| 25 | Desai, G., Chaturvedi, S. | NIMHANS, Bangalore; Jagadguru Kripalu Chikitsalaya, Vrindavan, Barsana, and Mangarh, India | Idioms of Distress (Review) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2017, 8 (5), pp. 94–97 | 52 |
| 26 | Shukla, D., Devi, B. | NIMHANS, Bangalore | Mild traumatic brain injuries in adults (Article) | Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2010, 1 (2), pp. 82–88 | 50 |
The JNRP has emerged as a highly influential and globally collaborative journal among its Indian peers [Supplementary Table 9]. While Neurology India leads in absolute volume with 6,126 papers and 28,583 citations, JNRP maintains a competitive presence with 2,386 papers and a strong CPP of 6.01, which is much higher than that of the Indian Journal of Neurosurgery (0.68) and surpasses Neurology India (4.67). Despite having a lower Impact Factor/IF (0.9) and H-Index (40) compared to the Annals of the Indian Academy of Neurology (1.8 IF and 49 H-Index), JNRP demonstrates the highest CiteScore (1.8) in the group. In addition, JNRP exhibits the broadest international diversity by drawing contributions from 55 countries; second to Neurology India, and leads the group in the number of contributing regions, particularly with a significant output from Europe (270) and North America (240). Categorized in the Q3 quartile with an SJR of 0.348, the journal establishes itself as a robust platform for rural-focused neuroscientific research with a citation impact that rivals established mainstream academic journals.
DISCUSSION
Publication trends and citation impact
This bibliometric evaluation of JNRP (2010–2025) demonstrates steady productivity with 2,386 publications and 14,339 citations (CPP 6.01). Output peaked in 2013 and 2017, with earlier publications showing higher citation impact due to maturation effects. Citation distribution followed a classical skewed pattern, with 26.99% uncited and a small proportion (≈3%) contributing disproportionately to total citations, consistent with Lotka’s law observed in neuroscience bibliometrics.[19] Reviews exhibited the highest impact (CPP 18.16), highlighting the journal’s role in synthesizing practical evidence for resource-constrained contexts.
Geographic and institutional contributions
India dominated output (62.7%), reflecting national priorities in rural neurology, while foreign contributions, though smaller, demonstrated faster growth. Collaboration networks were India-centric, with NIMHANS serving as a central hub and major contributions from PGIMER and AIIMS campuses. International collaboration (17.34%) remains modest compared to global standards, mirroring broader South Asian neuroscience trends.[17,18]
Compared with earlier Indian neuroscience assessments,[14-16] JNRP shows improved citation impact (CPP 6.01 vs. 4.21 in 1999–2008[14]) but remains below high-impact international journals such as Neuroinformatics[20] and Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.[19] Similar to regional analyses, limited funding and collaboration persist as structural challenges.[17,18] Unlike journals with strong international integration, such as the International Journal of Mental Health Systems,[21] JNRP retains a distinct rural and clinical orientation. Its trajectory also parallels nationally focused journals like the Turkish Journal of Psychology.[22]
Thematic Structure
Thematic mapping revealed dominance of vascular disorders and epilepsy, followed by trauma and infections, aligning with the epidemiological burden in developing regions.[14,15] Five major clusters – neurosurgery/trauma, epilepsy/mental health, imaging/symptomatology, tumors/spine, and cerebrovascular risks – demonstrate a clinically grounded and practice-oriented focus. However, emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced neuroimaging analytics, and translational neuroscience remain underrepresented.[18]
Funding profile
Funding support was limited (1.68%), consistent with patterns reported in South Asian neuroscience.[17,18] Funded papers demonstrated higher citation impact, emphasizing the importance of structured research support and international grant participation.
Implications and future directions
The findings provide a strategic roadmap for enhancing JNRP’s global visibility. Strengthening multinational collaborations, expanding funding avenues, and encouraging high-impact reviews and thematic series could elevate citation performance. Leveraging established institutional hubs such as NIMHANS for broader international networking may further enhance global integration.[15-18] Future bibliometric research incorporating multiple databases and qualitative assessments would provide a more holistic evaluation of rural neuroscience scholarship.
Strengths and limitations
A major strength of this study is the comprehensive 16-year coverage and integration of journal-level and article-level metrics with network visualization. However, reliance on Scopus may exclude non-indexed regional literature, potentially underestimating local contributions. Citation maturation bias favors earlier publications, and self-citation patterns may inflate certain metrics. Qualitative content evaluation was beyond the scope of this analysis.
CONCLUSION
This study systematically mapped the publication output, citation performance, authorship patterns, institutional contributions, international collaboration networks, funding profile, HCPs, and thematic evolution of the JNRP from 2010 to 2025. The findings demonstrate steady productivity, moderate citation impact, India-dominant authorship with limited international collaboration, low funding prevalence, and a strong clinical focus on stroke, epilepsy, trauma, and neuroimaging. While the journal has established itself as a credible platform for rural neuroscience research, strengthening multinational partnerships, funded research, and emerging thematic domains could further enhance its global scholarly influence.
Ethical approval:
Institutional Review Board approval is not required.
Declaration of patient consent:
Patient’s consent is not required as there are no patients in this study.
Conflicts of interest:
Dr. Amit Agarwal is the Editor in Chief of JNRP but will not be involved in the review and decision-making of this article.
Use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for manuscript preparation:
The authors confirm that they have used Grammarly artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for assisting in the writing and editing of the manuscript.
Financial support and sponsorship: Nil.
References
- Predicting the citation impact of clinical neurology journals using structural equation modeling with partial least squares [Dissertation] University of New South Wales; 2004
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- The role of academic journal publications in the UK research assessment exercise. Learned Publ. 2004;17:53-68.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Distinction, achievement, and editorial board membership. Am Psychol. 1976;31:799-804.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Ratings of professional journals by teachers of management. Improving Coll Univ Teach. 1979;27:102-3.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- POM research productivity in U.S. business schools. J Oper Manage. 1996;14:41-53.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Evaluating the management journals: A second look. Acad Manage J. 1984;27:660-6.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Publication in leading management journals as a measure of institutional research productivity. Acad Manage J. 1988;31:707-20.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Evaluations of accounting journal and department quality. Account Rev. 1981;56:596-612.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Publication speed in analytical chemistry journals. J Chem Inf Comput Sci. 2001;41:1450-6.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- An assessment of public administration journals: The perspective of editors and editorial board members. Public Adm Rev. 1994;54:474-82.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Management of serials in libraries. 1998. United States: Libraries Unlimited; https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED423896
- [Google Scholar]
- Mapping of Indian neuroscience research: A scientometric analysis of research output during 1999-2008. Neurol India. 2010;58:35-41.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mapping neuroscience research in India-A bibliometric approach. Curr Sci. 2013;104:1619-26.
- [Google Scholar]
- Indian neuroscience research, 1999-2013: A scientometric analysis. Collnet J Scientometrics Inf Manage. 2015;8:329-40.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Mapping the landscape of neuroscience research trend(s) in South Asia: A bibliometric analysis of 25 years (1995-2019) Neuroscience. 2025;573:9-24.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- South Asia's neuroscience research: Publication volume, quality metrics, and international comparisons (2020-2025) NPG Neurol Psychiatr Gériatr. 2025;26:26-36.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
- Journal of cognitive neuroscience: A bibliometric analysis. Int J Libr Inf Stud. 2017;7:185-90.
- [Google Scholar]
- Twenty years of neuroinformatics: A bibliometric analysis. Neuroinformatics. 2025;23:7.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- International journal of mental health systems: A bibliometric study. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2014;8:1.
- [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- A bibliometric analysis of a national journal: The case of the Turkish journal of psychology. J Sci Res. 2013;2:173-84.
- [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]