UGCapproved list of journals full of bogus publications

RECOMMENDATIONS

Urgent, coordinated effort with the participation of researchers, institutions, funders, regulators and academies to stop mushrooming of dubious journals.

Such publications need to be challenged, questioned and de-recognised at every level. Academia and government agencies should “work together to develop stringent punitive provisions and decide strategies for damage control” UGC may consider establishing a ‘Centre for Publication Ethics’ to create wider awareness among faculty and students and thwart “the rapidly growing predatory publishing business and ‘pay and publish trash’ culture.”

A requirement that scholars get at least two research papers published in a University Grants Commission-approved journal before submitting their doctoral theses, coupled with pressure on university teachers to get their research published regularly in academic periodicals, has produced an unexpected side-effect: It has led to a proliferation of f dubious journals .

A study to be published in the March 25 issue of Current Science notes a spurt in the number of predatory and dubious journals offering ‘pay and publish’ sevices to gullible authors.

For the study titled “A critical analysis of the ‘UGC-approved list of journals,’” a team of six researchers, in association with the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, analysed 1,336 academic periodicals randomly selected from a list of 5,699 journals in the so-called university-source component. Their conclusion: “Over 88% of non-indexed journals in the university source component of UGC-approved list could be of low quality.”

While the UGC website lists 32,659 journals, universitysource journals (5,699) are those which are recom-

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