To tackle the problem of poor-quality and imprecise journals in the field of humanities and social sciences, University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to establish an approval body exclusively for these faculties. UGC in a notification issued on Wednesday has revealed that it will soon be setting up the ‘Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics‘ (CARE).
On November 14 a meeting was held by UGC where it was decided that a body is needed to refine and strengthen UGC approved list of journals.
In the notification, UGC stated that although the research journals in science, engineering, technology, agriculture and biomedical services are well covered in the globally accepted database like SCOPUS and Web of Sciences (WOS), there is a problem of dubious and sub-standard journals in faculties such as Social Sciences, Humanities, Languages, Arts, Culture, Indian knowledge system etc…
CARE will be headed by the UGC’s vice-chairman and will have members from bodies like ICSSR, NCERT, AICTE, ICMR and other statutory councils and government bodies in different disciplines. INFLIBNET will also be a part of the consortium as a supporting agency
These members would prepare lists of quality journals in their respective disciplines within a defined time-frame, which then would be critically analysed and curated and will be referred as ‘CARE reference list of quality journals’.
The journals in the UGC approved list of journals would then be replaced by the CARE list. UGC has also advised the students, academia and other stakeholders against being associated with any suspicious and substandard journals.