The University Grants Commission (UGC) has set up a committee to prepare an exhaustive list of journals in which academics must publish if they want their publications to earn them points in the Academic Performance Indicators (API) system.
Headed by V.S. Chauhan of the UGC, the committee is expected to finalise the draft list in about six weeks, said a senior UGC official.
The API system awards points — these are counted for promotion as also while applying for teaching jobs — for publications, which are seen as a sign of an academic being active in research.
The step follows the widespread perception that many teachers in colleges and universities were claiming points for research published in sub-standard journals. The Committee is in the process of consulting experts from a range of organisations like the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, etc., to draft its list comprehensively.
Experts in social sciences and other fields are also being consulted.
“They will come up with benchmarks in terms of impact factor of the journals. This will have weightage when the list is drafted,” a senior UGC official told The Hindu.
As per the UGC’s recent notification, a person gets 30 points for publishing a book brought out by an international publisher, 20 for a book brought out by a national publisher, 15 points for publishing an article in a refereed journal and 10 points for an article in other reputed journals.
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