FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

My dear readers of Journal of Extension Education,

A 'Public Notice on Academic Integrity' was recently issued by the UGC (University Grants Commission) [F.1-1/2018 (Journals/CARE) dated 14 June 2019] through which the Commission had informed the Indian academic community that:

"1. They must avoid publication in predatory / dubious journals or participation in predatory conferences. It is further advised that they must not get associated (as Editors /Advisors or in any other capacity) with journals / publishers / conferences involved in fraudulent/ dubious / deceptive practices.

2. Any publications in predatory / dubious journals or presentations in predatory / dubious conferences should not be considered for academic credit for selection, confirmation, promotion, performance appraisal, award of scholarship or academic degrees or credits in any form. With immediate effect, research publications only from journals indexed in UGC-CARE list should be used for all academic purposes".

The recent setting up of a Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (CARE), by UGC to continuously monitor and identify quality journals across disciplines would go a long way in promoting high-quality research and academic integrity. It has also been informed that this CARE list of journals will be used in appointments and promotion of faculty members in Universities.

As the UGC notice says, of late, the mushrooming of 'predatory' online journals has risked the integrity of published research. Several studies have revealed that India is among the major contributors of articles published in poor-quality ‘predatory’ journals (Seethapathy et al , 2016).

Identifying a 'predatory' journal is itself a complicated task for a budding extension researcher. Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at Auraria Library and associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, says that “not being listed in standard periodical directories or library databases” is one of the qualities of a 'predatory' journal. Besides the UGC-CARE list, prospective authors can check the questionable journal's membership in agencies such as DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and International of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM).

The real problem though, lies in the lack of awareness among Indian researchers and regular conduct of workshops or training programmes on this issue by Universities & research institutions across the country could help.

Well. At this juncture, I am happy to inform you that Journal of Extension Education (JEE) has been included in the UGC-CARE list of Quality Journals under the discipline, "Social Science".

Recent studies taken up in Kerala on various issues concerning agricultural extension dominate this issue of JEE. Do send your feedback on these papers to editorextension@gmail.com.

D Puthira Prathap

Chief Editor

JEE 31 (2)