UGC Discontinues CARE Journal List, Launches New Evaluation Guidelines

New Delhi: In a significant move, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to discontinue the UGC-CARE (Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics) list of journals, which was originally introduced in 2018 to guide faculty selections, promotions, and research funding decisions. The UGC-CARE list had aimed to endorse only reputable journals, addressing concerns over the rise of predatory journals and ensuring higher research quality.

In place of the UGC-CARE list, the UGC has introduced new guidelines to assist higher education institutions (HEIs), faculty members, and students in evaluating journal quality. These guidelines emphasize parameters such as ethical publishing practices, citation records, impact factors, and a policy on AI-generated content for research publications.

The move follows feedback from the academic community regarding the drawbacks of the UGC-CARE system. M. Jagadesh Kumar, UGC Chairman, cited concerns such as centralization in deciding journal quality, delays in list updates, and the inclusion of predatory journals due to an inefficient vetting process. He also pointed out the exclusion of reputable Indian-language journals and a lack of transparency in decision-making.

The UGC-CARE list, while promoting quality journals, also faced criticism for putting undue pressure on researchers to publish only in listed journals, which sometimes led to publications being removed from the list without warning.

As part of the new strategy, HEIs will now take on the responsibility of journal evaluation. The UGC has advised institutions to develop their own systems for assessing the quality of journals, ensuring these align with academic standards and the suggested parameters set by the commission.

This decentralized approach grants researchers and institutions more freedom in journal selection, enabling HEIs to customize their evaluation criteria based on specific academic needs and evolving fields of study. Additionally, HEIs are tasked with combating predatory journals by establishing robust assessment systems that ensure publications follow stringent scholarly and ethical guidelines.

The new guidelines require journals to maintain an effective editorial process, disclose article processing fees, be transparent about acceptance rates, and ensure compliance with ethical standards such as plagiarism prevention and conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Furthermore, journals will be evaluated on their impact factor, visibility in reputable databases, citation patterns, and overall influence in the academic community. HEIs are also encouraged to set up internal review committees to periodically refine evaluation parameters to maintain high academic standards.

These reforms aim to enhance the quality of research publications while granting institutions more autonomy and responsibility in maintaining academic integrity.

UGC NOTIFICATION : UGC Discontinues CARE Journal List