Library Support for Researchers: Series 3: UGC CARE List of Journals

The Scope of the UGC-CARE List

• UGC-CARE has taken the responsibility of preparing the “UGC-CARE Reference List of Quality Journals” (UGC-CARE List).
• A list of Indian journals, especially from disciplines of Arts, Humanities, Languages, Culture and Indian Knowledge Systems is being prepared and updated quarterly (UGC-CARE Group I).
• The UGC-CARE List includes journals from all disciplines indexed in globally accepted databases, such as indexed in Scopus (Source list) or Web of Science (Arts and Humanities Citation Index Source Publication, Science Citation Index Expanded Source Publication, Social Science Citation Index Source Publication). These journals are to be considered for all academic purposes. Journals indexed in Scopus and / or Web of Science are part of UGC-CARE List Group II.

To access the UGC CARE list of journals:

Go to https://ugccare.unipune.ac.in/Apps1/User/lr/Registration (Registration is Mandatory)

For important FAQs on UGC CARE List of Journals, please visit:

https://ugccare.unipune.ac.in/Apps1/User/Web/FAQ 

Govt proposes to buy bulk subscriptions of all scientific journals, provide free access to all

The 'One Nation, One Subscription' policy for scientific journals is a radical move that could prove to be a game changer for the scientific community and individual researchers.

In an ambitious move to make scientific knowledge and data available to all, the government has proposed an open data policy that will make information generated by all publicly funded research, including its results, freely accessible to everyone.

More significantly, the government has also proposed to buy bulk subscriptions of all the important scientific journals across the world, and provide everyone in India free access to them. The proposals have been made in the draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy that was released to the public on New Year’s Day for comments and suggestions.

The ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ policy for scientific journals is a radical move that could prove to be a game changer for the scientific community and individual researchers. There are more than 3,000 to 4,000 high-impact scientific journals, and sources say the government might have to spend a few hundred crore rupees every year to get their bulk subscriptions. But its impact on the scientific research community could be huge, given that access to these journals are highly priced and even big institutions are selective in buying subscriptions.


The Ministry of Science and Technology, which has drafted the new policy, proposes to set up a new Science, Technology and Innovation Observatory which will serve as a central repository for all kinds of data generated from research in India. All data generated from publicly-funded research is proposed to be made freely available to everyone. In cases where, for reasons of privacy, national security or intellectual property rights, the availability of data has to be restricted, “suitably anonymised and/or redacted data” will still be provided. Even in cases where it cannot be released to the general public, genuine researchers would be given access to it, the policy has proposed.


Additionally, libraries of all publicly-funded institutions are proposed to be made accessible to general public “subject only to reasonable security protocols”.

The policy also talks about promoting the goal of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” in the field of science and technology. “A two-way approach of indigenous development of technology as well as technology indigenisation will be adopted,” it says.

“Greater emphasis will be given on promoting traditional knowledge systems, developing indigenous technologies and encouraging grassroots innovations,” it says.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pune/one-nation-one-subscription-govt-draft-policy-7128799/

Resources for Research - Series 5 (UGC CARE List)

The Scope of the UGC-CARE List

• UGC-CARE has taken the responsibility of preparing the “UGC-CARE Reference List of Quality Journals” (UGC-CARE List).
• A list of Indian journals, especially from disciplines of Arts, Humanities, Languages, Culture and Indian Knowledge Systems is being prepared and updated quarterly (UGC-CARE Group I).
• The UGC-CARE List includes journals from all disciplines indexed in globally accepted databases, such as indexed in Scopus (Source list) or Web of Science (Arts and Humanities Citation Index Source Publication, Science Citation Index Expanded Source Publication, Social Science Citation Index Source Publication). These journals are to be considered for all academic purposes. Journals indexed in Scopus and / or Web of Science are part of UGC-CARE List Group II.

The UGC-CARE List has only TWO groups, instead of the original FOUR groups to simplify the search process. These are NOT hierarchic or ranked groups.

UGC-CARE List Group I
Journals found qualified through UGC-CARE protocols
UGC-CARE List Group II
Journals indexed in globally recognised databases

Be sure to visit: LIST OF CLONED JOURNALS

References:

https://www.ugc.ac.in/journallist/ (Accessed on August 20, 2020)

UGC on a cleansing process in research sector

Bogus journals, substandard PhD theses under the scanner

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is on a cleansing process against bogus journals and substandard PhD theses as the quality of our research sector has been eroding, UGC vice chairman Bhushan Patwardhan has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a symposium on ‘Research in Ayurveda: Need, scope and future’ organised by AMMOI (Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India) here on Sunday, he said the quality of research papers had been eroding in the country, especially over the past 10 years.

“The UGC has appointed a 20-member committee headed by Padmanabhan Balram, former director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, to review the research papers approved by the UGC in the last 10 years. The committee has been given six months to review the situation. At least we will know where we stand and how much damage has been done to the research sector,” he said.

To check the umpteen dubious journals that publish papers with vested interests, the UGC has published a list of approved journals, Mr. Patwardhan said. We have requested the universities and institutions to consider only papers that appeared in the journals listed by us while deciding on faculty appointments. They have been asked to go by quality, not quantity,” he said.
Credit bank

‘National Academic Credit Bank’ (NAC bank), is another revolutionary step to be taken by the UGC in the higher education sector in near future. “It will make the inter-university degrees a reality in the country. The NAC bank would allow the students to join one university, pursue courses in another university, and earn the degree from yet another one. This student-centric system, already exiting in foreign universities, will bring lots of flexibility to the students,” Mr. Patwardhan said.

Speaking about STRIDE (Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research in India’s Developing Economy), Mr. Patwardhan said the objective of the system was to improve collaboration among various stakeholders in the research sector for the benefit of society.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/ugc-on-a-cleansing-process-in-research-sector/article29254256.ece (Accessed on August 26, 2019)

Only 15.8% of Indian work in world’s top 10 journals

Only 15.8% of the total publications produced by Indian researchers feature in the top 10 journals globally, there is dire need to focus on the quality of research in the country

IANS Photo

IANS

Published: 22 Jul 2019, 8:00 PM

Engagement: 17

Only 15.8 per cent of the total publications produced by Indian researchers feature in the top 10 journals globally, a government report has revealed. It has emphasised on the dire need to focus on the quality of research in the country.

Compared globally, India trails the UK, which has 37.3 per cent research work published in top 10 journals, the US (36.2 per cent), Germany (33.4 per cent) and China (27.6 per cent).

As per Scimago Journal Rankings, India ranks fifth in global research publication output. But countries such as the US, China, Germany and the UK continue to dominate the world rankings both in terms of quantitative and qualitative research.

"Presently, sizeable numbers of research and technology institutions/universities are spread across the nation, which includes central/state government funded and self-financed institutions. Despite these huge investments, the quality of research and innovation (R&I) is not of current global standards. Moreover, none of these institutions are amongst the top 100 R&I institutions in the world. Also, the quality of the workforce produced by these institutions is not amongst the best in the world," the HRD Ministry's Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP) report has said.

The quality of academic research produced by Indian scholars has become a subject of grave concern for the University Grants Commission (UGC), which had flagged the issue of increasing the number of students getting their research published in 'sub-standard journals'.

Following this, the UGC has released a list of journals and research work published only in those journals will be considered for academic credit.

The report has called for an increased shared of investment for the purpose of achieving global standards in research and innovation.

"India's R&I investments vis-a-vis global standards show that India's R&I investments have steadily dropped over the last decade - from 0.84 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008 to around 0.69 per cent in 2018.

"For the sake of comparison, the levels of R&I investment as a proportion of GDP in some other countries are the US (2.8 per cent), China (2.1 per cent), Israel (4.3 per cent) and South Korea (4.2 per cent)," it added.

The report noted that with a significant increase in investment in research and innovation, China now produces the maximum number of PhDs globally, having steadily increased the numbers yearly over the US.

According to the HRD Ministry's All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) data for 2017-18, 34,400 students were awarded PhD level degree during 2017.

China has produced four times the number of articles than India.

"India's share of scientific publications has increased from 3.1 per cent in 2009 to 4.4 per cent in 2013 and to 4.8 in 2016. However, a 2018 compilation of Science and Engineering indicators by the US National Science Foundation showed that both the US (17.8 per cent) and China (18.6 per cent) published approximately four times as many articles as India in 2016," the report added.

Due to the country's steady decline in investments, India severely lags in the number of patents and publications produced.

"According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) 2017 report, China made as many as 13,81,584 patent applications, with just 9.8 per cent being made by non-resident Chinese; the US made 6,06,956 patent applications while India made a mere 46,582 applications, of which approximately 68 per cent were by non-resident Indians, and only 26 per cent (12,387) of them were accepted as patents," it said.

The report, which aims to improve the standards of higher education in the country, has stressed the need for collaborative efforts between central and state governments as currently the research and innovation efforts are primarily funded by the Centre.

"The fundamental limitations of our educational system include marks-based assessment of students' potential, thereby promoting mugging-up of entire textbooks, too much parochialism, and inability to impart analytical skills. Very small percentages of students are capable of identifying a problem and visualizing an approach for finding the best solution. Moreover, the ability to think out-of-the-box is completely missing. As a result, confidence level or appetite for taking risk is very low, especially for pursuing new ideas," it added.

Source: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/science-and-tech/only-158-of-indian-work-in-worlds-top-10-journals (Accessed on July 23, 2019)

Hijacked journals: what they are and how to avoid them

Hijacked journals are duplicate or fake websites of legitimate ones utilizing the title, ISSN and other information of the reputable journal. They are often created by a malicious third party for the purpose of fraudulently offering academicians the opportunity to rapidly publish their research online for a fee [1,2].

In this blog Dr. Varun G Menon, Associate Professor at SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, India, alerts researchers to the threat posed by hijacked journals to their career and to the scholarly community, and provides tips for spotting and avoiding them. In this article, the term ‘hijacked journal’ refers to the fake version of the original legitimate journal [3].

To read the full article, please visit:

https://publons.com/blog/hijacked-journals-what-they-are-and-how-to-avoid-them/ (Accessed on July 23, 2019)

UGC cell formed to cull dubious journals headed by Savitribai Phule Pune University staff

In May, the UGC had disqualified 4,305 journals out of 32,659 from its list of approved journals owing to their dubious nature

Located in the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) campus, the cell will be headed by Shubhada Nagarkar, assistant professor, department of library and information science, SPPU.

The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) National Cell for Journal Analysis to weed out dubious journals was inaugurated by UGC’s vice-chairman Professor Bhushan Patwardhan on Saturday.

Located in the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) campus, the cell will be headed by Shubhada Nagarkar, assistant professor, department of library and information science, SPPU.

In May, the UGC had disqualified 4,305 journals out of 32,659 from its list of approved journals owing to their dubious nature.

This action followed a study published in the March 25 issue of Current Science journal which had reported a spurt in the number of predatory and dubious journals offering ‘pay and publish’ services to gullible authors.

Patwardhan said that the incidence of research articles published in poor quality journals is very high in India, which has adversely affected the academic reputation of the country. “The UGC national cell in the SPPU will analyse all such journals and then the UGC will give final approval,” he said.

The UGC national cell will have representations from four zones with the north zone represented by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, south zone (Hyderabad University), west zone (Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda) and Tezpur University in the east zone.

In November, the UGC had formed a consortium of academic bodies to prepare and maintain a list of credible journals.

This consortium which is a body of over 20 council members such as Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), will recommend the list of journals to the monitoring committee of the UGC cell for further action.

 Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/pune-news/ugc-cell-formed-to-cull-dubious-journals-headed-by-savitribai-phule-pune-university-staff/story-nGk5uhmw59DNzNOhkcuUmJ.html (Accessed on January 11, 2019)