NIRF ranking 2025: Higher education institutes to be penalised for retracted papers
NBA chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe said negative marking for retracted papers in NIRF ranking 2025 is aimed at tackling the rise in retractions of papers. He said it was noted that several institutions pressure students and faculty to publish low-quality research (which later gets retracted) to boost their rankings.
India ranks only next to China in the number of retractions, as per Retraction Watch Database, a global repository that tracks retracted research papers across disciplines, highlighting reasons such as plagiarism, data falsification, or peer review manipulation. In China, more than three out of 1,000 publications are retracted, while it is two per 1,000 in India. In the US, less than one paper is retracted for every 1,000 papers published.
In an analysis by India Research Watch (IRW) based on data by Retraction Watch Database, the total number of retractions from India between 1996 and 2024 stood at 5,412 with an average retraction rate of 1.80 per 1000 publications. Of these, the maximum or 2650 (48%) were classified as 'serious' such as plagiarism and data manipulation, 32% (1757) with issues around integrity like fake peer review or misconduct by the author and 12% (652) involved flawed research, unreliable data or errors that could also be honest.
Since 2019, the number of retractions from India have increased significantly with a spike recorded in the last four years. In 2022, the number of retractions were the maximum at 1212 followed by 2023 (866) and 2024 (860). In the last seven months of this year, there have been 571 retractions.
Also Read: CM Yogi stresses on inclusion of private institutes under SIRF to ensure quality
The decision to penalise universities with too many restrictions is a much needed move, said Achal Agrawal, founder, IRW, adding that the IRW has been calling for this action for more than a year.
'Retractions are a symptom of a bigger malaise in the whole research ecosystem. If you want to look at the root cause, we should be looking at the metrics that we use to reward universities and to scientists as well,' said Agrawal. 'University rankings are based on various parameters. Publishing research is one of them. But what's incentivised is quantity rather than quality. Retractions are a consequence of that.'
Stating that IRW has been calling for some penalty since there has been a spike in retractions in India, Agrawal added, 'When retractions are taken into account in the ranking process, it will definitely make universities act since it will directly hit them. But how it is implemented will matter a lot.'
For effective execution of the decision, Agrawal said it's also essential to use a comprehensive database such as Retraction Watch or Scopus. 'Not all retractions are due to misconduct. There could also be some honest errors. Universities that are penalised should know what has got them into trouble,' said Agrawal, adding that Retraction Watch is a good database to refer to since it also mentions reasons for the same.
Currently, NBA conducts the NIRF rankings for Indian higher education institutions in 16 categories.
A new category – sustainability will be added wherein institutions will be assessed on Sustainable Development Goals 2030. NIRF evaluates institutions based on six key parameters with different weightages: Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR) carries a weightage of 30%, as does Research and Professional Practice (RP); Graduation Outcomes (GO) account for 20% of the total score; Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) is assigned 10%, while Perception (PR) also contributes 10%. These weightages may vary slightly depending on the category of the institution.
The Research and Professional Practice (RP) parameter in NIRF includes publications, citation quality, patents and IPR, as well as sponsored research and consultancy projects.
NBA chief Sahasrabudhe said, 'Journals withdrawing the papers after complaints of unethical practices and cheating are called as retraction of the paper. Even if a research paper was published and counted towards an institute's ranking in previous years, a retraction discovered later will still attract a penalty in the current year. This is to send a strong message against unethical practices. Institutions must correct their approach. While penalties may continue for a year or two, consistent ethical conduct will eventually result in barring them from NIRF rankings,' he said.
Explaining the process of negative marking for retracted papers, he said that institutions having retracted papers will lose marks for citations under RP parameter and their NIRF rank will fall.
'We will use the data for retracted papers from journals itself instead of third party sources [The Retraction Watch]. In the coming years, we will name those institutions and bar from NIRF rankings for three to five years. We want to send a message to institutions that this is not only the name of your institute getting spoiled but the name of the country is also getting spoiled due to retracted papers,' he added.
The ninth edition of NIRF rankings will be released 'very soon', he said.
NIRF 2024 rankings were released on August 12, 2024.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
4 hours ago
- Hans India
India's 1st animal stem cell biobank, lab to boost regenerative medicine & therapies for livestock
New Delhi: India on Saturday got the first animal stem cell biobank and animal stem cell laboratory that will focus on regenerative medicine and therapies for livestock. Inaugurated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, the biobank and lab is situated at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad. The cutting-edge facility of Animal BioBank is spread over 9,300 sq ft and has been constructed at a cost of RS 1.85 crore. The laboratory is equipped with a stem cell culture unit, 3D bioprinter, bacterial culture lab, cryostorage, autoclave rooms, advanced air handling systems, and uninterrupted power backup. It will advance research in disease modelling, tissue engineering, and reproductive biotechnology. With support from the National Biopharma Mission (NBM) of DBT–BIRAC, the facility will be expanded to enable biobanking of animal stem cells and their derivatives. 'We had such facilities for human stem cells, but hardly any for animal cells. The best of NIAB, and the best of Indian biotechnology, is yet to come,' Singh said, adding that these facilities will contribute "to making India future-ready". 'We will not lag behind when the next industrial revolution—driven by biotechnology—takes over. The economy will shift from manufacturing to regenerative and genetic processes, and India has already initiated this transition,' he added. The Minister also laid the foundation stone of a new hostel block and Type-IV quarters at NIAB, approved by the Department of Biotechnology at a total cost of Rs 19.98 crore. The infrastructure will cater to the needs of research scholars, faculty, and staff, fostering a vibrant academic and innovation ecosystem. In addition, Singh launched innovative veterinary diagnostic tools designed to revolutionise animal health management and support the 'One Health' approach. These include a field-deployable, DIVA-capable diagnostic kit for early and accurate detection of Brucella species; a cost-effective on-site diagnostic assay for subclinical and clinical mastitis in dairy cattle; a portable antimicrobial sensitivity testing device providing results within two hours to promote responsible antibiotic use; a sensitive and specific test for Toxoplasma gondii infection in animals; an indigenously developed rapid strip for large-scale surveillance of Japanese Encephalitis in animals and humans. 'These innovations will boost agriculture-linked GDP, enhance livestock productivity, and pave the way for an 'Evergreen Revolution' in the animal husbandry sector,' the Minister emphasised. On the agricultural front, 'these releases mark a new phase of animal-based agricultural productivity -- an 'Evergreen Revolution'. With 18 per cent of GDP from agriculture and 60 per cent of our workforce depending on it, innovations in veterinary health will have a transformative impact,' he said. 'One rupee spent on agricultural research yields a return of Rs 13, and linking industry partners from day one ensures these technologies reach the ground,' Singh added.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- The Hindu
How migration to urban areas is expanding waistlines in India
Migration is reshaping Indian bodies—not just metaphorically, but physically, and measurably so. As millions move from villages to cities, the contours of daily life shift: new jobs, new routines, new stresses and new diets. And gradually, their bodies change too. In a recent analysis of over 31,000 adults aged 45 and above, researchers Bittu Mandal and Kalandi Charan Prasad at the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore report a strong link between rural-to-urban migration and obesity. The longer someone lives in a city, the more likely they are to carry excess weight—especially around the waist, the fat most tied to chronic disease. Migration, they suggest, is not just demographic—it's metabolic. What the research looked at To trace how cities imprint themselves on the body, the researchers turned to one of the largest ageing surveys in the world—the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI). Conducted across every State and Union Territory in 2017–18, it captured the lives of over 70,000 adults aged 45 and above. From this national tapestry, the team pulled a focused thread—31,595 people whose past and present addresses told a story of movement. They zeroed in on those who had left villages for cities, classifying these rural-to-urban migrants by how long they'd lived in their new urban homes: under five years, five to ten, or more than a decade. Then came the crucial question: Had their bodies changed with time in the city? The researchers examined both body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference—because belly fat, more than weight alone, is often the clearer signal of looming chronic disease. Using multiple statistical models, they asked whether simply spending more time in a city made people more likely to become obese. What they found The analysis revealed a clear trend. The longer someone lives in a city, the higher their odds of obesity. Even within five years of migrating, rural-to-urban migrants were nearly twice as likely to be obese as rural non-migrants, with the risk rising further after 6–10 years and again after a decade. 'We did not observe a clear point where the risk stabilises,' said Bittu Mandal, one of the study's authors. This pattern held for both general (measured by BMI) and abdominal obesity. Among rural non-migrants, just 2.6% were obese, compared to 13.1% for long-term urban dwellers and migrants. This aligns with the Indian Migration Study, which found increased body fat in migrants within a decade, characterised by higher blood pressures, lipids, and fasting blood glucose—patterns consistent across gender, as noted in an earlier work by Varadharajan et al. and Ebrahim et al. The ICMR-INDIAB study further showed that migrants had the highest rates of abdominal obesity and diabetes, surpassing even long-term city dwellers. The data also highlighted group-level differences. Obesity was especially common among women, wealthier or more educated individuals, and adults aged 45–59, who often adopt sedentary urban jobs and calorie-dense diets more readily than older migrants. 'Many migrants shift from labour-intensive rural work to desk jobs,' Mr. Mandal explained. 'Cities also offer easy access to processed foods, driving abdominal weight gain.' This is not just a matter of availability but also time. 'Time pressures associated with urban employment lead to increased demand for time-saving in food preparation and consumption,' said Prabhu Pingali, director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition. 'Pre-packaged and processed foods are everywhere, often replacing fresh meals in urban diets, especially for the poor.' Anaka Aiyar, a developmental economist at University of Vermont cautions that even non-migrants aren't spared as urban influence spreads. 'As market access improves in rural and peri-urban areas, processed foods become increasingly available. This shifts diets toward obesogenic patterns, especially for lower-middle-income women in sedentary jobs.' Filling the gaps While the study is statistically robust, its cross-sectional design leaves one key question open: does city life cause weight gain—or are heavier people more likely to migrate? Other research in the area bridges this gap. Sibling-pair studies in India—where migrants are compared to their rural siblings—show a consistent pattern. The migrant sibling is typically heavier, less active, and eats less nutritiously. Both higher calorie intake and lower energy expenditure contribute equally to their greater body fat—driven mainly by fatty diets, sedentary habits, and limited physical activity. Oyebode and colleagues looked at pooled data of 40,000 individuals from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa and found that occupational activity among migrants was lower and leisure activity higher. Together, these studies build a robust case—migration alters work, diet, and daily life in ways that foster weight gain. Policy implications As more Indians migrate to cities the health risks of that shift are becoming clearer. Yet internal migrants, particularly women and middle-aged adults, often fall through the cracks of public health programmes. 'They are often overlooked,' said Mr. Mandal. 'They face barriers such as lack of documentation, limited awareness, and care disruptions.' He suggests that national programmes - Ayushman Bharat and NPCDCS (National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke)- expand migrant outreach, offer portable benefits, and prioritise targeted screenings. But the challenge may run deeper than healthcare access. 'Food environments are changing rapidly, while nutrition policies lag behind,' said Prof. Aiyar. 'This disconnect risks leaving low-income and female migrants especially vulnerable.' Prof. Pingali argues that India's grain-heavy food policy has long limited access to fresh produce. 'Processed foods become default substitutes, especially for the urban poor,' he said. 'Combined with sedentary lifestyles and sugary drinks, this fuels adverse health outcomes.' He calls for a policy shift toward year-round access to fruits, vegetables, and dairy. From a different angle, economist Arup Mitra, professor at South Asian University and the former director-general of the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development, notes that many low-income migrants face basic nutritional hardships in cities. 'Access to healthy livelihoods—whether via sanitation or food—is already limited,' he said. 'And rising living costs only make things worse.' As India's cities swell and its migrants age, the country must reshape its health response—before citizens start bearing the irreversible burden of neglect.
New Indian Express
9 hours ago
- New Indian Express
ICMR-NCDIR hosts open school day in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: The ICMR-National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (ICMR-NCDIR) hosted an 'Open School Day' on Thursday as part of the nationwide Science and Health Technology for Next-Gen Explorers (SHINE) initiative of the Indian Council of Medical Research, aiming to inspire young minds and nurture future researchers. The event was held to mark the birth anniversary of renowned Indian medical scientist V. Ramalingaswami and brought together over 200 students from classes 9 to 12 across three city schools: National Public School, Urbana; Kendriya Vidyalaya, RWF Yelahanka; and Sai Vidya Mandir. ICMR Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl addressed the gathering, sharing breakthroughs from ICMR's work ranging from the development of Covid-19 vaccines to the innovative use of drones in transporting vaccines, organs, and medical samples. Through short films and guided lab visits, students were introduced to ICMR's research in tuberculosis control, cervical cancer detection using AI-enabled microscopes like i-Scope, and the application of data science in tracking non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension. 'The initiative is about planting the seeds of scientific curiosity early. We hope these students leave inspired to pursue careers that contribute to India's scientific and public health goals,' Dr Prashant Mathur, Director, ICMR-NCDIR, said.
