Over 88% UGC Approved Research Journals of Low Quality
- Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan of Pune University conducted a study and found that over 88% research journals are dubious.
- He also informed the most of the journals do not even qualify the criteria to be published or approved by the UGC.
According to a study conducted by researcher Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan of Pune University, more than 88% of the journals, recommended by universities and approved by the UGC are dubious and low in quality. The study, named Critical analysis of the UGC-approved list of journals, was led by a panel of qualified professionals and has been published in Current Science.
Following was the data uncovered through the study:
Highlights | Figures | Percentage |
Number of journals that were disqualified | 349 | 34.5% |
Number of journals with false information or poor editor credentials | 528 | 52.3% |
Number of journals that secured a score of 6 or above | 112 | 11.1% |
Number of journals that did not satisfy the minimum requirement | 897 | 88.9% |
The above data was evaluated by analyzing a total of 1009 non-indexed university source journals. Dr. Patwardhan said that the reason behind diminishing quality of the journals is the ‘publish or perish’ policies. He also said that they have given rise to predatory journals as they pave way for article/author processing fee.
Also Read:UGC Releases List of Fake Universities in India
Apart from being a professor at the Pune University, Dr. Patwardhan is also a member of the UGC Standing Committee and assess journals. Other researchers involved in the study were from Banaras Hindu University, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Rajasthan University of Health Sciences. These professionals studied randomly selected journals from the list of 5,699 journals that recently got the nod from UGC.
- These journals are required for the following purposes:
- Appointment of faculty
- Faculty evaluation for performance and career advancement
- Submitting doctoral theses
Overall, there are 32,659 journals approved by the UGC under various categories. Out of these, the ‘university source’ component comprises 5,699 journals. UGC had also agreed that there were some low-quality journals in the list and had removed them as per criteria. Amongst these, many have been identified as predatory journals by Indian as well as foreign professionals.
Also Read:UGC, NCTE, AICTE to be Replaced by Single Regulator for Higher Education
Indian universities have taken some necessary measured to ensure that low-quality journals or those with poor publication practices are not approved in the future.