In order to conduct research, the existence of a Research Gap is the pre-requisite. Generally, research is conducted in order to fill this gap. But in the era of IT, when so many journals, databases are there, electronic/print versions of Journals are there. Is it really possible to find a research gap in general, and in the area of commerce in particular?
Sanjeev Bansal
It is easier to find gaps if you have access to scientific databases and papers. It makes the task of literature review easier. The results from papers that refuse to be logically connected to those from other papers give me the clue that there are gaps. A review is not only for summarising and synthesising information from literature, (as is the case with most reviews that are published) but also to identify the gaps as well as to highlight the methodologies that may address the lacunae.
Thanks, Dear Sir...................... But still don't you think that the "research gap" identified by us, might be already traced by someone somewhere, and it might have been thoroughly investigated there also.....................just for clarity I want to clarify.
I would suggest you search having interdisciplinarity first in mind...
Sanjeev Bansal "... the "research gap" identified by us, might be already traced by someone somewhere, and it might have been thoroughly investigated ..."
Exactly. No point reinventing the wheel. That's why I recommended searching in available databases. If the problem has been tackled and is documented, it will be found if you search systematically. Start with Scopus. It has a wider coverage than the Web of Science, earlier called the Web of Knowledge.
Madhu K P The limitations in accessing databases can be a potential hindrance in curtailing the effort of the research team. Many institutions don't have access to databases like Scopus or WoS!
In this scenario, any suggestions?
Suresh Ramanan Sundaram You will be surprised to know the number of institutions in India that have access to Scopus / Web of Science. I have been conducting workshops in institutions funded by the Central and State Governments. And I find that people working there do not know that they have access to these databases. So they do not use these databases and end up using only Google Scholar. The money spent by the Government is going waste. I am not affiliated to any institution. Yet, I access scientific databases on a regular basis. Please check with institutional libraries in Jhansi and make friends in those institutions that have subscribed to the databases. It is as simple as that. I know that most ICAR and ICFRE organisations do not subscribe to WoS or Scopus. Yet, your recent paper on Sandalwood is based on WoS search, isn't it?
Madhu K P
Greetings sir,
My recent paper - Progress and future research trends on Santalum album: A bibliometric and science mapping approach (10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112972) was based on WoS. While working on this paper, I understood the potential and utility of WoS as such. As you suggested, the previous paper was possible because of the combined effort and contribution from researchers in different institutions.
Suresh Ramanan Sundaram I read the paper because a PhD scholar from SKUAST-K selected it to write a report during a recent online workshop. The poor guy tied himself into knots trying to understand the paper and gave up after the first draft. I wish Indian researchers write papers that are at least as comprehensible as the ones by the Chinese. We tend to write with an intention to confuse, not to clarify. Anyway, a scientometric study of the subject is a good beginning. Please follow it up with a good review. There is a review on the selection of host trees for sandalwood plantations in the April 10th issue of Current Science. But there are other topics in the field that needs attention.
Thanks for guiding and teaching me, sir Madhu K P . Still trying to improve now also.
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