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The UGC decided to discontinue the UGC-CARE list of quality academic journals introduced in 2018.
The list will be replaced by new suggestive parameters for selecting journals based on eight criteria.
Stakeholders can provide suggestions by February 25.
What Do the New Parameters Say?
The new parameters are listed under eight criteria, with about 36 suggestive points.
Journal Preliminary Criteria: Includes journal title, ISSN, periodicity, and transparency in review policies.
Editorial Board Criteria: Requires journal details and board composition to be available.
Other criteria include journal editorial policies, standards, visibility, and research ethics.
Why Did the UGC Withdraw It?
The UGC-CARE list faced criticism for being overly centralized and for delays in adding or removing journals.
Academics raised concerns about limited availability of journals in certain fields, like Tamil, and lack of transparency in the decision-making process.
The new approach aims to combat predatory journals and decentralize the selection process, giving institutions more responsibility to evaluate journals and develop their own mechanisms.
What Has Been the Response?
Students and academics expressed concerns that this could lead to the rise of low-quality journals.
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) criticized the UGC's decision, arguing it was made without adequate consultation.
SFI believes the move undermines academic integrity and quality research, warning of inconsistent journal evaluations across institutions under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
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