Research Productivity and Online Visibility of Faculty Members in Select Schools of Mizoram University: A Google Scholar Perspective

Abstract

This study investigates the research visibility and scholarly impact of faculty members from two schools of Mizoram University using Google Scholar metrics. The analysis was conducted on 59 faculty Google Scholar profiles collected between February and April 2025. Key indicators examined in the study include publication count, citation count, h-index, and i10-index. The findings reveal that 81.94% of the faculty members maintained active Google Scholar profiles, while 76.38% had verified their institutional email affiliations, reflecting varying levels of engagement with scholarly visibility platforms. Significant differences were observed across departments and gender groups, with research visibility in certain departments being strongly influenced by a small number of highly productive scholars. Among the faculty members analysed, Manoj Kumar Verma recorded the highest number of publications, with 333. At the same time, Joydeep Das achieved the highest citation impact and h-index with 9,167 citations and an h-index of 47. Dibya Prakash Rai ranked highest in the i10-index with a score of 111. The study further highlights a significant gender disparity: no female faculty members were represented among the top 10 researchers across all major Google Scholar metrics. Based on the findings, the study recommends that Google Scholar should display the total number of publications more prominently at the top of author profiles, as the current arrangement makes this information less visible despite its importance in representing an author's overall research productivity and scholarly contribution.