UGC considers scrapping rule on publishing research for PHD
NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) plans to do away with the mandatory requirement of publishing research papers in peer reviewed journals for submission of PHD thesis, officials said.
The commission will allow higher education institutions to formulate their own rules and regulations on the matter. The reason for doing so is because many PHD students were resorting to publishing their articles in so-called predatory journals — those that publish articles in return for a fee, without adequate due-diligence of the sort academic publications are expected to ensure.
The commission is currently making amendments to the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of PH.D Degree) Regulations, 2016. Under the 2016 regulations, it was mandatory for PHD scholars to publish at least one research paper in a UGC referred or peer reviewed journal before the submission of the dissertation/thesis.
Under the new, 2022 regulations, the commission will replace the term mandatory with “strongly recommended”.
“This mandatory requirement led to a “journal business” in India. Making anything mandatory does not improve the quality of research. Therefore, UGC is now considering doing away with this requirement while strongly recommending research scholars to publish the research outcomes of their PHD in peer reviewed journals, apply for patents, and present in conferences,” UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar told HT.
Kumar said that the commission may now ask universities to frame their own guidelines.
HT reported on March 17 that the draft UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of PH.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022, proposed several changes including making undergraduates who have been the four-year programme and with a minimum CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 7.5 eligible for PHD admissions. The draft was made public in March seeking suggestions from stakeholders. UGC is now compiling the suggestions and finalising norms.
Maushumi Basu, an associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said: “Firstly, the commission made the provision of allowing PG and now graduate students to take admission in PHD programmes directly, Now, it is also removing the mandatory requirement of having the research paper published before the submission of thesis. This will eventually compromise the quality of research. Leaving it up to the Universities to decide will not work because no University would like to take the responsibility for this,” she said.