Decentralised approach to succeed UGC-CARE: all about previous journal listing system

The UGC has present developed a acceptable of ‘suggestive parameters’ for higher acquisition institutions to place suitable journals for themselves. It made these parameters nationalist connected Tuesday (February 11) and is collecting feedback connected them till February 25.

What prompted the UGC to acceptable up CARE?

Publications successful journals are considered for rankings of institutions, module appointments and promotions, and probe grants. The spot of probe publications tin interaction module appointments and promotions successful higher acquisition institutions, arsenic good arsenic backing for research.

Given their significance, journals that people enactment minus the rigours progressive with publishing successful reputed journals began to mushroom. This interest was reflected by the UGC successful a papers connected CARE successful 2019. “Publications successful dubious/sub-standard journals bespeak adversely starring to semipermanent world harm and a tarnished image,” the bureau wrote. “The occupation of predatory/dubious/sub-standard journals has go a origin of superior interest each implicit the world. The percent of probe articles published successful mediocre prime journals is reported to beryllium precocious successful India, which has adversely affected its image,” it wrote.

In a 2018 investigation, The Indian Express recovered that India has a thriving ‘predatory journal’ market with implicit 300 publishers managing these journals. Most of these are online, and complaint fees ranging from $30 to $1800 to publish. Following the investigation, the UGC announced CARE the aforesaid year.

CARE replaced the erstwhile strategy of maintaining an approved database of journals based connected suggestions received from universities. With CARE, a compartment established by the UGC would measure the diary based connected a protocol that examined its credentials.

Why has the UGC done distant with CARE now?

According to UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, the UGC acceptable up an adept committee to reappraisal CARE successful 2023. He said, “NEP 2020 highlighted that excessively overmuch regularisation had been attempted with small effect. It criticised the dense attraction of decision-making powerfulness successful centralised bodies, suggesting that specified an attack was undesirable.”

Kumar said the determination to discontinue the UGC-CARE database past October was “based connected concerns regarding subjectivity, deficiency of transparency, and inefficiencies successful its appraisal process.” He added that the committee’s reappraisal identified areas wherever this exemplary was “lacking successful respective ways.”

This included a deficiency of “clear reasoning down wherefore circumstantial journals were included portion others were omitted”, “many module members faced career-related difficulties owed to the abrupt removal of journals from the UGC-CARE database without anterior notice,” and “adding new, high-quality journals was slow, with nary wide feedback connected wherefore their applications were pending oregon rejected.”

“Despite its intended intent of curbing predatory publishing, low-quality oregon questionable journals entered the UGC-CARE list,” helium said. “Many reputed Indian connection journals were near out, reducing opportunities for scholars to people successful Indian languages. This attack contradicted the tone of NEP 2020, which promotes Indian languages and Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) successful higher education.”

He besides said that the CARE strategy had “limitations successful evaluating non-STEM journals”, which created barriers for researchers successful societal sciences, instrumentality and Indian languages.

Abha Dev Habib, Associate Professor, Miranda House, said that the UGC-CARE database was not exhaustive and resulted successful unit to people successful definite journals. “We often get emails saying we tin wage and publish,” she said. “If you link publications successful definite journals to promotions, rankings and accreditation, determination is unit connected teachers to people successful them. There are nary shortcuts to probe and the authorities volition person to enactment successful wealth to beforehand it.”

What is the caller approach?

The UGC has listed ‘suggestive parameters’ for higher acquisition institutions to measure journals, including the journal’s editorial and reappraisal process and the expertise of its editorial board. These parameters are not binding connected the institution.

However, this puts the onus connected the instauration to measure journals. “If institutions neglect to make businesslike mechanisms (to measure journals), they hazard damaging their organization estimation by endorsing module members who people successful dubious journals,” Kumar said. He said that the determination to discontinue the database and supply suggestive parameters is simply a “step towards decentralisation, world state and organization accountability.”

“Faculty members and probe scholars tin present measure journals utilizing the suggested parameters that acceptable their disciplines alternatively than relying connected a cardinal list. The caller attack allows for a broader scope of journals,” helium added.

On whether this mightiness instrumentality the strategy backmost to a pre-CARE one, Kumar that institutions person the flexibility to “make informed, discipline-specific choices portion maintaining precocious world standards. This determination is successful tune with NEP 2020, which discourages over-centralisation successful scholarly publishing.”

What concerns person been raised astir the scrapping of the CARE list?

Academics person pointed retired that portion the database had its problems, scrapping it altogether could bash distant with the checks that CARE had introduced against predatory journals, providing them the abstraction to thrive.

An academic, who was antecedently associated with the UGC and did not privation to beryllium identified, referred to the determination arsenic a “retrograde” step. “The strategy was inactive teething, but it could person helped adust up the pipeline of predatory journals. There should person been immoderate nationalist consultation earlier it was scrapped,” the world said.

When asked if the caller strategy could pb to a proliferation of predatory journals, the UGC Chairman said, “Rather than making the strategy much susceptible to predatory journals, the caller attack eliminates the weaknesses of a rigid centralised list. It promotes a much robust, institution-driven prime power mechanism.”

He added that higher acquisition institutions present person a “strong incentive” to support their credibility by preventing module from publishing successful predatory journals. According to him, institutions that neglect to enforce prime standards “risk harming their estimation successful the world community.”

On whether the UGC had sought to code the issues with CARE earlier doing distant with it altogether, Kumar said, “Yes, the UGC had attempted to code the shortcomings of the UGC-CARE strategy earlier yet deciding to discontinue the centralised list. However, contempt these efforts, important issues persisted, starring to the determination to modulation to a much decentralised and flexible approach.”