Research means creating new knowledge. It is the systematic inquiry or investigation of a specific subject area to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Writing a research paper is a daunting task. A scholar has to go through literature, study stacks of journal articles, books and hunting the treasure of other’s thoughts. Then, finally to make knowledge, it is necessary to apply thought and imagination. This is the most central part of a research paper. By publishing a research paper, a scholar is adding to the whole knowledge base of the universe.
One of the most important things about a research paper is its authenticity. A research paper produced in Srinagar or somewhere else must also be valid in New York or any place of the world. When a research paper is published in a recognized journal, whether it is true or not, it will always be considered as reference for future research. A fake research paper would end up sharing wrong information with the world and lead the whole world learning wrong. Unfortunately, the pursuit of Truth-Beauty-Good has been contaminated and made captive to self-promotion and greed. The submission of low quality and fake manuscripts has become increasingly prevalent and most of the research publications neither advance scientific knowledge nor have any practical applications. The slogan “publish or perish” for obtaining API scores for promotions has pushed everyone to publish research papers in predatory journals and cash benefits. The explosive growth in online/electronic journals both international and national has sprung up to facilitate mass publications of a large number of articles in lieu of money with little or no peer reviewing.
Recently, I came across some e-mails from some international journals of science and engineering based in India, asking for publishing research papers with them. The journals were with ISSN, approved by University Grants Commission (UGC), acceptance notification within 07 days of submission but one has to pay the so-called publication fee. The most amazing for me was their very high impact factor (around 4), knowing already that there are some good journals in India with National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) which are approved and internationally recognized but having impact factor less than one. I have never seen journals alluring authors towards quick publications in this manner. A systematic study of UGC’s approved list of journals by a top academic recently confirmed that 88% of 1,009 journals recommended by the universities and included in the white list are dubious and predatory, publishing substandard manuscripts for a small fee with very little peer-reviewing. These journals give incorrect ISSN, make false claims of impact factor and with poor credentials of editors. Subsequently UGC removed over 4300 journals from its list which includes some journals from Kashmir and Jammu universities, but this exercise is not sufficient. While many researchers easily recognize these predatory journals, for others it can be a costly affair.
Last year Higher Education in J&K started research journals in science, engineering, humanities and local languages like Kashmiri, Dogri and Urdu and asked its teachers for contributions. Once I asked one of the functionaries in the editorial board that how do you scrutinize research papers? He gave me an example, “that for a paper in high energy Physics we have an expert who gives us an opinion whether to publish it or not and he has signed an agreement with us”. While we do have reviewers/experts of our local languages who can authenticate the validity of a research paper, the same is extremely difficult in science, engineering, humanities etc. Then, there are so many specialized fields in a particular area. For example, an expert in high energy physics can evaluate research papers in his specialized area not whole high energy, just an expert in English literature, specialized in drama can evaluate drama not poetry or novel. How can teachers send their original quality research papers to a journal which has started recently with no ISSN, no impact factor and practically poor/no review process. The teachers could get an award for publishing this paper in some good journal abroad. Forcing teachers to send their research papers in these journals is an ill-conceived idea.
Peer-review is a process of subjecting scholar’s work/ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. A minimum of 2/3 reviewers check the validity, standard and level of a research paper. They go through all the experimental/software results, mathematical calculations and finally the presentation and the language. There is every chance that a particular reviewer may not be available in the country and one has to look for people abroad. The ideas expressed in publications should be authentic and globally valid and it should help the faculty, the society and the scientific community as a whole. You can’t say that these journals are by the faculty, for the faculty and they are themselves responsible for plagiarism or any quality issue. While it takes nearly 1-year to publish a research paper in top-indexed journals, how can it be that a journal publishes a paper in a few days? Good research journals have editorial board which typically consists of a group of prominent people who uphold high ethical and scientific standards and prevent any substandard work from reaching the scientific community. In high-quality scholarly journals, manuscripts go through intense scrutiny, even before being seen by the editor-in-chief for a peer-review process. And, in the peer-review most often, the articles are to be revised rigorously or get rejected.
It is the quality that matters in all perspectives of life. Quality means excellence and it comes as a result of dedication, intelligent efforts and skillful execution. The ‘Jugaad ‘ mentality often leads to non-perfectionist quick-fix type incremental research. We must admit the fact that we are lagging behind the west and other developed countries not only in science and technology but in other aspects of life. I don’t write books on Physics because I can’t write more beautifully than the foreign authors, therefore I rely on foreign books and also prescribe the same to others. Let us not make mockery of research publications. What is important is to do things efficiently, strive for excellence and not waste talent and resources and tarnish our image in academia.
Dr Mohmad Amin Malik is Associate Professor, Higher Education Deptt, J&K