Sajid Sheikh
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. These words of Thomas A. Edison have been throbbing my mind trying to answer what is good or bad journal, while I was searching for a journal to publish my research.
Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff and Other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards of Higher Education, 2010 was amended on 11th July 2016 and a list of somewhat 38653 journals of varied disciplines was released by the UGC, for the purpose of Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) and Direct Recruitment of teachers and other academic staff as required under the University Grants Commission. This simply means that your publications in only these journals will entitle you to get your score considered under Academic Progression Indicator (API). Earlier a journal having ISSN was enough to be considered for API score.
This list came into fire when it was observed that the list only included journals indexed by Scopus, a journal indexing database; while other renowned databases including NISCAIR New Delhi, Pro Quest USA, Copernicus Poland, were ignored. This is not primarilyperturbing me. The leviathan which we are harbouring is the monopoly these selected journals will create which slowly will lead to the death of access to knowledge and dissemination of knowledge.
The UGC’s whole idea of selecting a few journals is flawed with errors and against active research. As an academician, I believe that anybody should be free to publish their research anywhere, and this list is virtually putting the authors in shackles and inhibiting their publications. Moreover, this list is unconstitutional as it through unrealistic and unknown procedure and criterion, have negated hundreds of prominent Indian journals, in which prominent Academicians and learned members of the society have published their pieces.
With this list backed by the UGC, the other journals will succumb very soon as the academicians and even prospective authors will prefer to publish in the UGC selected journals. Neither, the new publication of similar nature could be started.In this knowledge based economy, the progress of a nation is calculated from the open access to information and knowledge and the support which such institutions receive;and UGC discriminating some journals and favouring other journals thereby will create a ripple effect leading to stagnation of knowledge.
There is ‘no set’ criteria these journals give for accepting the papers. The criteria’s often relate to the novelty of the paper, its relation to the contemporary scenario and its effect on the existing scholarship and nodoubt that it should be un-plagiarised. But, the unspoken criteria which cannot be denied is that what matters is ‘personal contacts’ with the publishers, your years of experience, your designation cum affiliation, andthe number of grey hair you have; thus superseding the quality of the paper.With this, the young academicians are left with a little chance of getting their article published in a reputed journal. Moreover, there is no first come first serve basis applicable, even if you somehow pass the ‘quality criteria’; young authors have to wait for six months to a year or more to get their article published, which is detrimental to the readership and even the author loses interest in it.
The UGC has put emphasis on the ‘quality of research paper’. However, I feel the term is obscure and dubious. Is there an objective criteria to determine quality? I can’t find an answer to this. Can’t a professor write a paper or an article so simple that the weakest student in the class can understand that? Can’t a young academician with his young strength and mind, write a paper for his peers? The question is who will judge whether it’s a quality paper worth publishing in a ‘UGC selected list of journals.’ Who will determine that a Harvard or an Oxford Publication is better rather than a local publication which may have more relevant readers to my research.Isn’t ISSN as a criteria enough? What does actually matter, the quality of the paper or the platform where I publish it.
We have much praise for the newspapers and similar platforms which contributed to India’s struggle for independence. The restraint the British had put on them is condemnable without rebuttal. The UGC is creating such a scenario where vernacular journals have not been considered at all. Even journals in Hindi language, the official language of India is not fitting in the space. Such a segregation, giving importance to a few thereby demeaning the content of the other equally competitive journals is putting a restraint on the freedom of speech and expression which our Constitution upholds.
In this competitive era, the UGC should once again rethink the momentous impact this segregation will cause and should scrap off this list based on irrational and subjective criterion. If not, then a nod will be given for the new monopolistic publication business to creep in, while the ages of academicians will witness the death of knowledge.
(The author is a teacher associate at Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai)
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