NEW DELHI, India, December 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, the world's leading publisher of scientific information, announced today the winners of the third annual Scopus Young Indian Scientist Award. Prof. J J Theo Groothuizen, ST Counsellor, Embassy of Netherlands, presided over the award ceremony, held at Le Meridien in New Delhi.

The award has been designed to recognize outstanding young scientists and researchers in India who have made significant contributions to providing new research insights in their areas of research. Analytical tools in Scopus, Elsevier's abstract and citation database of peer reviewed literature were used in providing statistical data on applicants to the selection panel. Recipients received a certificate of recognition, a cash prize and a crystal trophy.

Over 200 Indian scientists and researchers under the age of 40 submitted their work for consideration in eleven disciplines included - Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Library and Information Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine, Pharmacology, Physics Social Sciences. Each entry was endorsed from the head of the applicant's present institution.

Following are the winners from each category: - Agriculture : Dr. R Raman, International Centre for Genetic Engg Biotechnology - Biological Sciences : Prof. S Ganesh, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur - Chemistry - Dr. B V S Reddy, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad - Earth Sciences - Dr. Govindasamy Bala, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - Engineering - Prof. Suman Chakraborthy, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur - Mathematics - Dr. Siva Athreya, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore - Medicine - Dr. Bhanuprakash Reddy, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad - Physics - Dr. Moulik Parikh, Inter University Centre for Astronomy Astrophysics - Dr. Satyabrata Patnaik, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Finalists were selected by a jury of eight panelists, one peer from each discipline. Applicants were selected based on statistical key criteria such as number of citations, their h-index, number of publications and patents based on Scopus data. The qualitative parameters included the impact of the research and the new insights of knowledge developed thereon.

The Scopus award is a very interesting and novel way of highlighting the best of research from young scientists in the country. If it stimulates, even if by a small amount, the translation of quality research into quality publications, it would have served an important cause, says Prof. K. Vijayaraghavan, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore who is on the selection panel of the awards.

We are very pleased to recognize India's best and brightest up and coming scientists across a broad spectrum of key research disciplines, said Sander Verboom, Regional Director for Elsevier South Asia. In the increasingly competitive and multidisciplinary reality, it's vital to support our young researchers in their quest to advance the frontiers of science and we look forward to seeing great things from our 2008 recipients.

About Scopus

Covering the world's research literature, Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality Web sources with smart tools to track analyze and visualize research. Scopus was designed and developed with over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from over 15,000 peer-reviewed journals from 4,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also directly integrates Web and patent searches. Direct links to full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool. For more information about Scopus please visit http://www.info.scopus.com.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Padma Muralidharan, +91-120-4679202, +91-9810739993, p.muralidharan@elsevier.com