The UGC-CARE initiative: Indian academia's quest for research and publishing integrity

This paper discusses the reasons for emergence of predatory publications in India, engendered by mandates of higher educational institutions: that require stipulated number of research publications for employment and promotions. Predatory journals have eclipsed the merits of open access publishing, compromised ethical practices, and left the research community groping for benchmarks of research integrity and publication ethics. To fight back the menace of predatory publications, University Grants Commission, India has established “Consortium for Academic Research and Ethics” (UGC-CARE) in 2018 to promote and benchmark research integrity and publication ethics among the Indian academia. The present paper discusses the UGC-CARE initiative, its structure, objectives and specifically, “UGC-CARE Reference List of Quality Journals” (UGC-CARE list) and finally, the challenges it faces.

Popularity of India’s Regional Comic Strips: A Study of the Stylistics of Narayan Debnath’s works

Though celebrated amongst the western literati and the intelligentsia thereof, Comic strips, especially the Indian produce with regional flavours in them, are seemingly juxtaposed, in the acceptance of their stylistic essence, if placed next to their western counterparts. This is also the reason why they have been infamously disregarded in the Indian academia. This paper proposes to study the stylistics aspect of the comic strips from Bengal especially the ones written by Shri Narayan Debnath, and the coming into vogue of this printed visual medium. This article aims to identify the uniqueness and the formal aspects of the stylistics of Indian Comic tradition from Bengal. Additionally, it aims to leaf through the popularity markers through Debnath’s stylistics aspect of the three comic strips that have kept the imagination of his audience alive for more than five decades. He successfully addressed the first objective through a systematic literary review with inclusion and exclusion set as a benchmark. The identification of the stylistics through close reading of the texts along with their systematic review of secondary literature, formed the basics of the second objective. Particularly those stylistics were considered which were typical of their prominence and were integral across the literature and the texts. Furthermore, a matrix was also successfully designed to map the identified stylistics. A couple of implications portray that the said interpretation may help the Post-Millennials or the Generation Z to examine and consider the sublimity and allegiance of reading, and shape the imagination prowess of young minds, apply their intellectual faculty and develop a comic disposition in life. Development of creativity in any narrative style and development of conversational mechanisms are often found to be an added bonus. However, making today’s generation read this form of narrative and chisel their fertile imagination remains a challenge for the digital-natives. There is no doubt however, that this age-old art form can be tremendously advantageous as an academic endeavour and become an integral part of children’s systematic reading habit.

Factors Affecting Technology Transfer and Commercialization of University Research in India: a Cross-sectional Study

In recent years, there is a great emphasis on transferring inventions and technologies originating from academia to industry through technology transfer/licensing or commercialization. The efforts of the Government of India (GOI) aim to create socially useful innovation through university-industry technology transfer. The objective of the study is to examine and understand enabling factors and barriers for technology transfer among Indian universities. The study covers three key aspects: (1) the awareness and practice of patents and research commercialization among Indian academia, (2) comprehending strategies adapted to commercialize research activities, and (3) barriers in university-industry technology transfer (TT). This paper is an attempt to answer the research question whether current dynamics within Indian universities create an environment for enabling knowledge transfer/commercialization and propose plausible suggestions to enable academia-industry technology transfer. A self- assessed structured methodology is contemplated and applied. Convenience sampling methods were adopted. Administrators of 25 universities overseeing research and development activities/patent cell/incubation cell or industrial collaboration of universities were approached to participate in the study. Indian universities are categorized as (i) public funded universities and (ii) private institutes for the purpose of the study. It is interesting to understand that public funded universities have an advantage in terms of receiving funds and licensing the research to potential industrial partners. The authors further conclude that research undertaken in academia is far from the demands of the industry. Even though the relevant supporting system for enhancing university-industry collaboration is in place, such as establishing technology transfer office (TTO) in the university, they hardly channelize the resources for socially useful innovation. It is important for Indian academia to undertake commercially viable research for the benefit of society.

Feminist responses to sexual harassment in academia: voice, solidarity and resistance through online activism

This paper takes as its starting point the compilation and circulation online of a list naming alleged sexual harassers in Indian academia in order to examine broader questions about the nature of online activism to address gender-based violence. Set against the historical silencing of women who speak about violence as well as institutional mechanisms to address this issue through due process, we examine the meaning, impact and limitations of this list, which generated considerable discord and debate within feminists in India. In doing so, we consider the place of these new forms of collective actions and expressions of solidarity within the broader feminist campaigns to resist violence.

What we expect of integrative medicine case reports?

In recent times, launching of new research Journals has become common and also worrisome. Increasing demands and specializations require new research Journals. Thus while new Journals are welcome, the worry stems from the fact that a majority of the newly launched Journals have unscrupulous commercial interests rather than their being interested in sharing of good new knowledge between peers. Thus we need to ask why is this new Journal required and what we expect from it? When Prof. Akshay Anand, the Editor-in-Chief of this Journal asked me to write an editorial for the first issue, I was a little surprised. I am not trained in Ayurveda, Unani or any of the other traditional or modern healthcare system. The only connection that I have with these alternative medical systems is that one of my research areas relates to basic research in Ayurvedic Biology using the Drosophila model. My other qualification for writing this editorial can be my long-term conviction that Indian academia need to publish good research Journals and that our researchers should take pride in publishing in such Journals also.