The University Grants Commission (UGC) has removed 4,305 journals from its list of approved journals based on "careful scrutiny and analysis", Minister of State for HRD Satya Pal Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The UGC currently recognises three categories of journals -- journals indexed in "Web of Science or Scopus", those recommended by the Standing Committee and the Language Committee, and journals recommended by the universities, Singh said in response to a question.

The UGC's Standing Committee on notification of journals has decided that the recommendation portal will now be opened once every year and the universities will be asked to recommend journals, he said.

Further, from this year onwards, every recommendation submitted by the universities will be re-verified under the supervision of the Standing Committee on notification of journals, to ascertain that only good quality journals are included in the UGC-approved list with correct publication details.

In another question about the quality of journals, the minister said the UGC has decided to establish a Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (CARE) in order to redefine and strengthen the procedure for inclusion of journals in the discipline of Humanities and Social Science, etc.

A public notice was issued in this regard on November 28, he added.

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