The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to discontinue the Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC-CARE) listing for journal publications. This decision was made on October 3, 2024, during its 584th meeting.
Instead, the UGC has recommended specific parameters for peer-reviewed journals, which will be established by a group of academicians, experts, and students. Feedback on these parameters was invited from the public until February 25, 2025, at journal@ugc.gov.in.
The UGC-CARE list aimed to:
Promote quality research among faculty members.
Uphold research and academic integrity and ethics in publications.
Encourage high-quality publications in renowned journals to enhance global rankings and advance research and education.
Provide a method for identifying high-quality journals.
Prevent publication in low-quality or predatory journals that could impact overall academic excellence.
Maintain the "CARE list of journals" for academic assessment.
However, due to numerous complaints, the UGC has decided to discontinue the UGC-CARE list.
Researchers and academicians had raised concerns about over-centralisation in deciding journal quality, delays in updating the list, and the inclusion of predatory journals due to an inefficient vetting process.Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, UGC
Lack of respectable Indian-language publications.
Lack of transparency in the decision-making process.
Occasional exclusion of renowned publications while including less reputable ones.
Researchers also faced challenges due to the UGC-listed journals, including pressure to publish in a reputable journal from the UGC-CARE list.
The UGC has now proposed that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) develop their own quality metrics to assess publications. HEIs will be able to set specific parameters for different academic fields.
This approach grants researchers greater freedom in academic research publications. However, the UGC has emphasized strict monitoring of the review and editorial processes.
Journals will need to define the following:
Scope
Goals
Objectives
Policies regarding AI-generated content
Additionally, the UGC has specified criteria for evaluating journal impact, including:
Total citations
Cite scores over a specific period
Impact factor
Indexing in reliable databases
Self-citation rates within reasonable limits
Critics suggest that regular review and revision of journal criteria will help maintain high research publication standards in India.
References:
1. “Welcome to UGC, New Delhi, India.” n.d. Gov.In. https://www.ugc.gov.in/Bureaus/bureaus_details?lyDCWOVFwmn3VDWJIgc2DrkYzQHVb4FjoFBO7AVV7mZinXLa%2BTeY4QkS2Vz5xIkr.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Sanika Dongre/MSM)