Monthly Archives: February 2020

Research Commons in Public Libraries: New Space for Development

Nowadays public libraries are rarely viewed as a space for researchers. Digitalization and the Open Science movement are the prime drivers which have changed the situation. Thus, in 2020 a new space for researchers will open in the Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow. Although it’s a public, not an academic library, we hope it will further enhance citizen science. Moreover, research spaces in public libraries can be used for advocating interests of libraries in a variety of ways.

Information literacy for everybody
Research Commons are places where librarians can show how useful they can be for the digital era natives. It is information literacy that is the most important skill for those working with electronic information. In terms of lifelong learning, everybody needs basic research skills to find, evaluate and quote information sources correctly.

Research for everybody
Research Commons in public libraries offer the local community a great opportunity to connect with the world trends in research. That could be a great contribution to popularization of science. Besides, among services available in Research Commons there will be
scientometrics, grant and conference searching, as well as academic reading and writing services. These services will show how essential librarians’ assistance can be, particularly their searching skills.

Academic reading for everybody
Also, it’s a great opportunity for libraries’ partners to promote their collections and to make their electronic resources globally visible. The general public will have access to unique resources, which universities and academies normally don’t have. Combining science, education, library and business in one place will have a positive effect upon scholarly communication. And that’s how the ecosystem of
open science is being created. We are very thankful to our partners Elsevier and Proquest, who have started creating the Research Commons together with us.

Mikhail Shepel
Director General
Rudomino All Russia State Library for Foreign Literature
Russian Federation

mikhail.o.shepel@libfl.ru

UGC-CARE Reference List of Quality Journals – an unique Indian national initiative to control the menace of Predatory Journals

To promote quality research, academic integrity and publication ethics among Indian Higher Education Intuitions, University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India on 26th November 2018 formed a Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC-CARE) to develop a reference list of quality journals. The basic purpose of UGC-CARE list of quality journals is to discourage researchers from publishing in low quality journals or predatory journals. The UGC-CARE is managed by an Empowered Committee with the help of 31 UGC-CARE Members. Besides, there are four coordinating Universities to create awareness among the Researchers and also to provide necessary support and guidelines for the faculty and students in different zones.

UGC-CARE List of quality Journals.

The UGC-CARE List of quality Journals which was launched this year includes research journals from all disciplines and mainly divided into two groups. Group I Journals found qualified through UGC-CARE Protocol. Group II Journals indexed in globally recognized databases. The list is dynamic in nature and is being updated quarterly on the first of January, April, July and October every year.

UGC-CARE List Group I:

Anyone can recommend journal/s, whether Indian or foreigner, for inclusion in the UGC-CARE List, Group I by following the prescribed submission process available at https://ugccare.unipune.ac.in preferably through UGC-CARE Member or UGC Coordinating Universities or IQAC Cell of any college or University. Publishers can also submit journal title/s through IQAC Cell of any affiliated college / University following the prescribed submission process with the recommendation of teaching faculty along with the duly signed declaration form by competent authority .The title is/are reviewed by the UGC Empowered Committee and if qualified on parameters and UGC protocol, it is included in the list. Apart from these journals, a list of Indian journals, especially from disciplines of Arts, Humanities, Languages, Culture and Indian Knowledge Systems, is being prepared and updated quarterly. It has good organizational structure to identify and prepare a list of reputed journals not indexed in international indexing databases

UGC-CARE List Group II:

The Journals which are included in reputed and globally recognised indexing databases such as indexed in Scopus (Source list) or Web of Science (Arts and Humanities Citation Index Source Publication, Science Citation Index Expanded Source Publication, Social Science Citation Index Source Publication) etc. have been included under this group.

What more?

For the benefit of the Scholars and Researchers from time to time UGC-CARE develops the guidelines and organized training programmes. On the recommendation of UGC-CARE, University Grants Commission has approved 2 Credit courses to create awareness about publication ethics and publication misconducts entitled Research and Publication Ethics (RPE) to be made compulsory for all PhD. Students for pre-registration course work. It is going to be 30 hours course and having six modules. UGC has also issued a notification that Researchers will not be having benefit of getting research score for the papers published in Journals not listed in UGC-CARE list.

I hope that this blog post may be useful and can start further discussion on the subject. For any further suggestions / information / clarification please feel free to contact me.

Professor (Dr.) Ramesh C. Gaur
Dean, Director (Library & Information) & Head, Kalanidhi Division
Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA)
rcgaur66@gmail.com