Data-Driven Evaluation of Indian Higher Education Institutions: Integrating Manupatra and Inflibnet Metrics
Rajib Kumar Das, Anuradha Singha, Amit Kumar Das
Journal of Science and Technology Metrics, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2026.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6025/jstm/2026/7/1/27-44
Link: https://www.dline.info/jstm/fulltext/v7n1/jstmv7n1_3.pdf
Abstract:
The evaluation of higher education institutions (HEIs) increasingly depends on the availability of
comprehensive, high-quality datasets that enable transparent, reproducible analysis. This study examines
the roles of two major Indian data infrastructures Manupatra and INFLIBNET in supporting data driven
evaluation of higher education institutions. Manupatra provides extensive legal resources, including more
than 1,100 central acts, case laws, and judicial records, enabling the assessment of legal research productivity
and judicial impact. INFLIBNET, through platforms such as Shodhganga, e-ShodhSindhu, and IndCat,
aggregates academic and bibliometric data comprising over 600,000 theses, 7,200 journals, and more
than 16.5 million bibliographic records.
Using authenticated datasets from these repositories, this study analyses ten major Indian HEIs to evaluate
research productivity, resource allocation, and legal influence. A standardised analytical framework is
employed to integrate legal and bibliographic datasets, using research output indices, citation counts, and
infrastructure indicators.
The findings reveal distinct productivity patterns between multidisciplinary/STEM institutions and lawfocused
universities. While leading universities such as IIT Delhi and IISc Bangalore demonstrate strong
research output, law focused institutions such as NLSIU Bangalore and NLU Delhi exhibit greater legal
impact as reflected in judicial citations. The analysis highlights the importance of open access initiatives,standardised metadata, and interdisciplinary approaches for comprehensive evaluation of higher education.
Persistent challenges include limited data accessibility, inconsistent metadata standards, and the
underrepresentation of non traditional research outputs. Policy recommendations emphasise improved
data interoperability, expansion of open access frameworks, and alignment with international metadata
standards to enhance the global competitiveness of Indian higher education.