Publications
mended by various universities in the country, the paper notes. UGC has admitted that it received several complaints about the inclusion of low-quality journals soon after the release of its approved list of journals on 2 June 2017. The UGC has removed a few journals after an evaluation, the paper said.
The dubious publications were identified by the team of researchers that included Bhushan Patwardhan, a professor at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), , a special invitee member on the UGC Standing Committee for Notification of Journals and former vicechancellor of Symbiosis International University.
The other academicians who worked on the analysis were Shubhada Nagarkar (Department of Library and Information Science, SPPU), Shridhar R. Gadre (Interdisciplinary School of Scientific Computing, SPPU), Subhash C. Lakhotia (Departmentn of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University), Vishwa Mohan Katoch (Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur) and David Moher (Centre for Journalology, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa).
Out of the 1,336 journals studied, 897 were disqualified from the UGC- approved list of journals by the human resource development ministry for providing false information such as an incorrect ISSN ( International Standard Serial Number), making false claims about the impact getting published in their pages would have , indexing in dubious databases, poor credentials of editors and non-availability of information such as an address, website details and names of edi- tors. Papers published in the disqualified journals will not be considered d valid.
“It is an alarming situation that such a huge percentage of the journals are bogus. Globally, it hampers the image of our country,” Patwardan said.
The HRD ministry has adopted a very positive approach to dealing with the issue “and has decided to remove all the bogus journals from the UGC list shortly,” Patwardhan said .
The paper also cites two research studies published in Nature and Nature India last year which found that “a large number of predatory journals and associated articles originate in India” after analysing 1,907 articles published in 200 journals
The UGC regulations, modified in the year 2013, mandated publication of at least two papers in journals prior to submission of a doctoral thesis. The “publish or perish” criterion also applies to career advancement in the university system.
Reports of unethical practices in publishing of research papers, leading to an increase in the number of predatory, dubious and low-quality journals have been surfacing over the years, which was why the study was initiated,Patwardhan said. equivalent to key financial benefits the state would have got as a special category state.
“Your government hailed this central assistance package as a great achievement of the state government,” Shah said. “Suddenly, two years later, you have made a U-turn once again demanding the special status, which has become redundant in view of the financial commitments already fulfilled by the central government.” crore Chaibasa treasury case.
Since then he has been serving his term in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail. About a week ago Prasad was shifted to a Ranchi hospital after he complained of discomfort.
He is still facing trial in the last case in Jharkhand. This is the biggest case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139 crore from Ranchi’s Doranda treasury and involves 120 accused.
THE OTHERS
In the Dumka case, the court convicted Prasad and 18 others on March 19. It acquitted 12 accused, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra.
Former regional director of animal husbandry department OP Diwarkar received the same punishment as Prasad.
Nine other animal husbandry department officials and former IAS officer Phoolchand Singh were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined ₹30 lakh each. Seven fodder suppliers were given three-and-a-half year prison terms and ₹15 lakh penalty each. Larry Ellison, down $7 billion as Oracle forecast slowing sales growth for cloud-related products. Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and Alphabet’s Larry Page lost $17 billion combined.
The world’s 500 biggest fortunes now encompass $5.2 trillion, according to the index.