Critical analysis of journal inclusion practice in the UGC-CARE list: A case study of Group-1 Kannada language journals

The aim of this research is to investigate the journal inclusion practices of the UGC-CARE list, particularly Group-1 Journals in the Kannada Language. Group-2 journals are indexed in globally recognized databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, etc. Journals indexed in Group-1 category are mainly Indian journals published in various Indian languages. Group- 1 has 10 Kannada language journals. The Proceeding of Andhra Pradesh History Congress resides outside the scope of the Kannada language that, necessitated its exclusion from the study. Since the data coding on the analysis protocol developed by the UGC is not publicly available, the researchers used the UGC-CARE list website to refine the data and add other quality indicators to align with the standard practice of journal analysis. The study found that only 3 out of 9 journals provide PDFs of back volumes. Similarly, only five out of nine journals show the table of contents (ToCs) of the latest issues on the UGC-CARE list website. Furthermore, none of the journals have eISSNs. This indicates that most of the journals are print-based publications. Two Kannada language journals, Anikethana, and Hosa Manushya, do not have ISSNs. The study concluded that unless the UGC-CARE and publishers address the challenges identified and bring out relevant policies, Group-1 journals are of less value to the scholarly and public community.