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Check Any Journal's UGC-CARE Status in 60 Seconds
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Every Indian researcher needs to know this. Here's how the UGC-CARE list works in 2026, what Group I and Group II mean, and the exact three-minute workflow to verify a journal before you submit.
If you are a researcher at any Indian university, the UGC-CARE list is probably the single most important document governing where you can publish. Your PhD won't be accepted if your papers aren't in UGC-CARE journals. Your API score calculation won't count them. Promotions will stall. And the list changes every three months — so "I checked last year" is not a reliable defence.
This guide explains what the UGC-CARE list is in 2026, how it is structured, and how to check a journal on the UGC CARE list in under three minutes. If you're in a hurry, the 60-second summary above covers the essentials. If you want the full picture, read on.
UGC-CARE stands for University Grants Commission — Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics. It was established by the UGC in June 2019 to replace the earlier "UGC Approved Journals List", which had become unmanageable and was widely criticised for including predatory journals. The Consortium is administered in partnership with Savitribai Phule Pune University, which maintains the official list at the UGC-CARE portal.
The core purpose is simple: to provide Indian researchers with a single, authoritative list of quality journals that count for academic recognition across Indian universities. Publishing outside the UGC-CARE list means the publication will not count for PhD completion, API score, promotion, or most grant applications.
If you are working from a "UGC approved journals list" PDF dated before June 2019, that list is not in effect. The old list was officially withdrawn on 14 June 2019 and replaced by the UGC-CARE list. Publishing in a journal from the old list today, if that journal is not on the current UGC-CARE list, will not count for Indian academic requirements.
The UGC-CARE list is divided into two groups. The difference matters because it determines how a journal got onto the list and how easy it is to verify its current status.
Indian and international journals that the UGC-CARE Committee has individually assessed against defined quality criteria.
Journals indexed in Scopus Source List or Web of Science (SCIE, SSCI, AHCI) are automatically included — no separate application.
The practical implication: if your target journal is in Scopus or Web of Science, it is almost certainly in the UGC-CARE list via Group II. If your target journal is Indian or a non-Scopus international journal, you need to verify its Group I status specifically — and re-verify closer to submission.
The UGC-CARE list refreshes four times a year. Journals are added, removed, and occasionally reclassified between groups. The schedule is predictable, which matters because a journal that was on the list when you started writing may not be on it when you submit.
If your writing timeline crosses a quarterly update boundary — which for any 3–6 month project is likely — re-check the journal's UGC-CARE status before you submit. A journal that qualified in April may be delisted in July. Your paper, accepted before delisting but published after, may fall into a grey zone that your university's research office will treat as non-compliant.
The UGC-CARE list covers four main ASJC (All Science Journal Classification) categories. Within each, journals are listed by specific discipline.
This is the exact process to confirm a journal is currently UGC-CARE listed. Do it before submission, and again before publication. If you do nothing else in this post, do this.
Navigate to the official list hosted by Savitribai Phule Pune University.
ugccare.unipune.ac.inIf your target is Scopus or WoS indexed, check Group II first. Otherwise start with Group I.
Use the official journal title exactly as it appears on the journal's own site. If there is any doubt, search by ISSN — it is unambiguous.
Take a screenshot with today's date visible. This is your evidence if the journal is later delisted — universities usually accept "the journal was listed when I submitted" with documentation.
If the journal is in Group II by virtue of Scopus indexing, verify it is currently indexed on the Scopus Source List — if Scopus delists the journal, Group II inclusion effectively lapses.
scopus.com/sourcesOnce your paper is accepted, check once more. Delisting can happen during a quarterly update while your paper is in production. Catching it early gives you time to act.
Many websites publish unofficial copies of the UGC-CARE list. These are often outdated, sometimes by two or three quarterly updates. Always verify on the official portal before trusting any third-party source.
Every quarterly update adds and removes journals. A journal that was safe in January may be delisted in April. Always re-check close to submission and again before publication.
Scopus and UGC-CARE are related but not identical. All Scopus-indexed journals are in Group II automatically, but not all UGC-CARE journals are Scopus-indexed — Group I includes Indian journals that qualify without Scopus indexing. Your institution may specifically require one or the other, so check your local requirements.
If your target journal is Scopus-indexed, your UGC-CARE coverage is almost automatic through Group II. This is why targeting Scopus-indexed journals is the safer default for most Indian researchers — you satisfy both Scopus-requirement and UGC-CARE-requirement institutions in one publication.
If a journal you were considering is not in the UGC-CARE list, choose a different one. Publishing in a non-UGC-CARE journal wastes the paper — it won't count for the requirements that matter to your career. Our pillar guide on how to identify predatory journals covers the broader framework, and for the structural overview of index choices, see our guide on SCI vs SSCI vs Scopus vs ESCI.
If you are unsure whether a specific journal qualifies — especially an Indian journal in Group I or a regional journal with complex status — this is exactly the situation to ask about before submitting, not after.
Our free Predatory Journal Checker runs UGC-CARE, Scopus, and Web of Science checks in parallel. No signup. Confirm your journal is safe before you submit.
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