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The UGC has discontinued its UGC-care list due to lack of subject matter and transparency.
The UGC unveiled the new journal selection guidelines for better transparency and flexibility. (Image: UGC)
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to stop using its UGC-care list of magazines. He said that the list was very subjective and lack of transparency. Instead, the UGC has provided new guidelines to help the faculty and students to select good colleague-review magazines for their research. Faculty and students are encouraged to share their feedback on these new guidelines by 25 February.
Why did the researchers criticize the UGC-care list?
The UGC-care list, which was used for faculty promotion and research funding, faced a lot of criticism from the researchers. Many people realized that the process was very centralized, slow and unclear. Some magazines in the list were seen as incredible, and the list did not cover enough magazines in Indian languages. Researchers also found stressful to publish only in listed magazines, especially when magazines were suddenly removed from the list without warning. This limited their options to publish important tasks.
UGC’s new decentralized approach to journal assessment
In response to these concerns, the UGC formed an expert committee to review the list and review its impact on educational publication. The findings of the committee revealed significant flaws in the system, especially discipline with subjects of non-stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The committee said that the UGC-Care model led different levels of personality in the assessment of magazines, which reduced the authenticity of the process.
UGC President Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said that the UGC-care list approach for Journal Assessment was seen as insufficient, especially for non-stem areas. The launch of the list and the introduction of a decentralized assessment model is expected to address these issues.
“The expert committee found that the UGC-Care model introduced different levels of personality in the evaluation process. This was particularly criticized for its approach to handle magazines in non-STEM subjects, which led to suspected authentic claims for UGC-care listed publications, “he said.
To ensure the choice of magazines reviewed for their quality, transparency and relevance as public notices, magazines and ideological parameters as general guidelines on the Care List. pic.twitter.com/zkabojkhu5– Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar (@Mamidala90) 11 February, 2025
With new changes, universities will be encouraged to create their systems to choose magazines based on the guidelines set by the UGC. This will give them more flexibility to meet the needs of various subjects and maintain with new areas of study. The UGC hopes that it will allow for more academic freedom and reduce the pressure to follow a centralized list.
However, there is a concern that without proper systems, universities can inadvertently support the research published in low quality or fake magazines, which can damage their reputation. To avoid this, UGC is asking experienced professors that to help young researchers make better options when choosing magazines, especially to avoid hunter publishers.
New guidelines also encourage universities to create strong systems for evaluation of magazines and raise awareness about high publication standards. The goal is to move away from the old list and build a more transparent, flexible system that today reflects the diversity of research.
