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NIRF will introduce negative marking for retreat and tainted research papers to prevent malpractices after concerns on reliability.
NIRF rankings to include punishment for research misconduct, including retract and tainted papers. (Representative image/gati)
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is ready to start negative marking for some parameters, including the quotes of the retreating research paper and tainted papers, confirming the authorities.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the tenth edition of NIRF. Since its launch, the framework never includes negative weightage.
Anil Sahashbudh, president of the National Board of Exhibition (NBA), which manages the NIRF, said that the framework will now punish institutions for research misconduct. He said, “For the first time, penalty is being formally stitched to work against research misconduct in ranking and wrong data. The negative marking system will be declared soon and the norms are being read,” he said.
Nirf evaluates institutions in five broad areas: teaching and learning, graduate results, research, outreach and perception. With the participation of more than 8,700 institutions in the 2024 cycle, ranking has become an important reference point for students, recruitments and policy makers.
In many institutions, a large number of research papers have been left behind in the last two to three years, which has increased concerns about their credibility. “Unless we give negative marks, people will not fix it. With rankings like QS, Times Higher Education and NIRF, not taking the retracts for scoring, many institutions were climbing the ladder despite dangerously high return from their research wings,” Sahshbudhe said.
Also read: Tamil Nadu RTE Admission 2025-26: The application process starts from 9 October
The issue was also exposed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Madras High Court in April, which questioned the transparency of the ranking system like Nirf. PIL stated that the Nirf rankings were calculated on the data provided by educational institutions on their website, without only verification or auditing “.
After PIL, the court initially issued an interim migration on the ranking. However, it was later removed after interfering in the center, saying that a “scientific method” prescribed by an expert body was being followed for publication of the NIRF rankings list.
(With input from PTI)
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October 03, 2025, 16:56
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