It was an ambivalent scenario for the Ph.D. scholars, when the University Grants Commission (UGC) in its official Gazette on 7th November 2022 annulled the publication requirement for thesis submission. Besides, Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar (the UGC Chairman) too advocated this notion by saying “Focus On PhD Quality, Not Publications”. Well, it is not a matter of fact, if you are perplexed with this statement.

As a researcher, who stringently followed the 2016 UGC regulations, the journal and its associated publications might be thought as a knowledge treasure of one’s research domain, a self-teaching mentor to enhance the tech-writing skills, an expertised neighbor to chat with the research findings, an advisor of future researchers and a key that unlocks the doorway to Ph.D. achievement. At this instant, the questions that arise are:

• Despite all its benefits, what made the publications to be given less regard in the 2022 UGC gazette?

• Are the publications completely futile for the researchers and academicians?

• What to do with the publications in hand?

Let’s have a glimpse at it.

UGC disregards publications?

Publications are of paramount significance to any researcher in a duplex sense. At first, while seeking knowledge from other researchers and exploring their research discipline. Secondly, during the search for a platform that makes their research findings known to the other researchers. Quality of the publications becomes predominant in this context, as an incorrect knowledge base ends up in delusive research outcomes. But, how far is the quality of publications being maintained, when the scholars are forced to have a mandatory publication before their thesis submission? This is why UGC has relaxed the publication need in its current regulation. Make a note that it is just a relaxation, not completely against. By this relaxation, UGC claims, “Attention Scholars!!! Avoid being a prey to predatory journals ruining your quality research”.

Beware of predatory journals 

Predatory journals are deceptive journals, which publish research works in less time, without assessing the quality and basic standards of ethical publishing like plagiarism.  With predatory journals, the researchers are hunted for their money to publish their research in a worthless way. Moreover, it forces the researchers to unknowingly rob the other researcher’s thoughts because of unethical publishing.  Literally, since 2010, the predatory journals have experienced a massive growth that their number could be approximated as 15,500, as per the 2022  Cabells Predatory Reports. Such a growth rate cannot be viewed as a success of predatory journals, but sadly a deterioration of quality research and the existence of pirated research.  So, what makes the researcher to be a prey for such deceptive journals? It is the time required by the trustworthy and standard journals to value a research before doctoral thesis submission and the pressure withstanding inability of the research scholars. Another cause that adds relevance to this fact is the scholars’ desire for more citation counts, so as to influence his/her reputation in career.

Publication quality matters

UGC has taken steps to alleviate the abrupt need for a researcher to blindly publish their research in predatory journals, by not endorsing publication before thesis screening. As per the UGC chairman, the scholarly research should be monitored rigorously at various time spans to improve its quality and to produce well-trained researchers with improved skills. Further, he says: “We need to encourage students to become inquisitive explorers during their PhD work, and the publication of research papers, patent applications and conference papers will naturally result from this”.

As a researcher, the next impeding query that confuses your brain is: “What is the need of publication, if it does not add to thesis evaluation?” The first answer that comes to mind is: “Publications can only carry around your quality research across the globe and promote good future research in the domain”. The next is: “A doctoral thesis is better-valued with standard research publications than one with deceptive or no publications”. In fact, claiming a copyright for a research methodology in a publication will deny its unauthorized usage and encourage new research in that particular domain. Is that all about the need for publication? No. The same Gazette, which unwarranted publication for the scholars, recommended the research supervisors to hold a Ph.D. degree with three to five publications. This fact merely implies that a Ph.D. awardee with a good number of publications in standard peer-reviewed journals could only lead a productive research. Finally, the scholars will not be deprived of knowledge, since the publication in non-predatory journals kindles research interest in a particular domain with a good number of reviews. Eventually, the 2022 UGC regulations for the award of Ph.D. might be considered to pose a hidden emphasis on thesis submission with no deceptive publications. The UGC chairman too justifies this fact by saying that “Universities should train students and encourage them to publish, present at conferences and apply for patents. It often takes time to publish a research paper in a peer-reviewed journal and, therefore, it should not be linked to submitting a PhD thesis”.

Identifying non-predatory journals

It is very much clear now that the publications are highly essential to build a research community with improved teaching and learning processes. So, Can the non-predatory journals be found apart from its predatory counterparts? Of course. As per the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) report, “Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences”, a non-predatory journal is the one which has a reputed index (like, Web of Science, Scopus). Additionally, it is the one that has got listed in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) and a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).  As an alternative, a researcher could also find the non-predatory journals from the University Grants Commission Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC-CARE), Cabells Predatory Reports or from the list of journals provided by their own institutions.