India is at the second position among countries with the highest increase in their contribution to high-quality scientific research, according to a new report which shows that the growth of research in the country is only behind China’s.

According to the Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars report, while India made its mark, Chinese institutions are leading the world in rapidly increasing high-quality research outputs.

The institutions from India among the top 100 highest performers across the globe include Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

While India made its mark, Chinese institutions are leading the world in rapidly increasing high-quality research outputs, according to the Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars report.

The US — which remains the largest contributor to high-quality scientific papers overall — has 11 entrants into the top 100, despite many starting from a high base.

Nine institutions feature from the UK, eight from Germany and five from India. The Rising Stars report used the Nature Index which tracks the author affiliations of published research articles by more than 8,000 global institutions in a group of 68 journals. An earlier report, published by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), shows that less than three per cent of school-going children want to pursue a career in science in India.