THE RESEARCH SEER'S RATIONALE

Do you know that the UGC-CARE (University Grants Commission-Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics) has cancelled out its journal listings for article publication? In fact, the public notice dated 11th February 2025 from UGC has created a great mystification among the researchers, scholars and universities on the journal publication norms (https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/9678711_PUBLIC-NOTICE-CARE.pdf). So, what is a UGC-CARE journal listing? What might be the possible reasons for the cancellation? What are the benefits and demerits associated with its cancellation? How to publish the research article in a quality journal, as there is no more UGC-CARE list of journals?

Let’s have a glimpse at it...

The UGC-CARE journal listing

It is a directory of refereed journals from UGC-CARE, which is chiefly aimed to resolve two issues in article publication and they are:

1. Maintaining the quality standards of research, enabling in-depth research exploration

2. Preventing an article from being published in predatory or fake journals, which fail to preserve research quality and research integrity with an eye on the author’s money

Generally, the academic institutions in India follow these journal lists for various reasons as:

• To examine the trueness of the research conducted by the scholar towards his/ her PhD thesis submission

• To select a faculty, who might show his/her expertise in a given field based on the publication history

• To improve their scores for NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) NBA (National Board of Accreditation)

Possible reasons for cancellation

Despite the uses, the journal listing is discontinued for a few possible reasons. The first of it might be the uncertainty of the journal to be in the listing over a period of years. Usually, UGC-CARE updates the journals in its list based on several standards to maintain research quality. However, this journal update might sometimes exclude a renowned and quality journal in a field for a reason like, no transparency in the decision-making process. Further, the journal update is not periodic that the researchers are subjected to a stress and ambiguity of whether their research could be acknowledged and completed at a stipulated time. The second reason might be its headship in deciding a journal to be a quality one or not. Though the decision on the quality of a journal is made from an expert’s team, several credible journals across different countries or languages are given least importance to be considered. The third reason might be the unavailability of ample number of journals in a specific research domain, leading to publish the article in yet another journal that does not meet the aims or scope of research. The final reason is that the predatory journals are believed to exist in the list even now.

Merits of cancellation

Though the cancellation of the journal listing from UGC-CARE sounds to be a bolt from the blue, it has given certain merits for the researchers and the academic institutions. The former is benefitted by the liberty in choosing a more appropriate journal, relative to one’s own research discipline. In contrast, the latter is given the role to develop its own norms in faculty selection or scholarly research.  

Demerits of cancellation

Liberty of journal selection is considered as the main advantage of cancelling the UGC-CARE journal list. However, this liberty can also enable the predatory journals to work in freedom, imprisoning research exploration, quality and integrity. A useful and most-wanted research that can satisfy a highly-crucial need, might be wasted without proper acknowledgement or appreciation. Moreover, the academic institutions might require excessive time and resources to develop the norms and for maintaining its credibility and supremacy.