Research paper and publication support in Coimbatore

At TNAU the NAAS score decides

Many TNAU scholars get caught on this point. Clause 22.2 of the PG Rules and Regulations 2025 asks a doctoral student for two papers, research or review, in journals with NAAS 6.0 or higher. The other route is one such paper plus one IP filing, like a process or product patent, a design or a copyright. Even a Scopus or SCI journal is accepted only when its NAAS score is also 6.0 or more. Any journal on the UGC predatory list is not counted at all.

Lot of scholars see the Scopus badge on the journal’s home page and stop there. At TNAU you have to open the NAAS score list first. Suppose a Scopus-indexed journal has a NAAS rating of 5.4. It will fail the rule. We help you make a shortlist of journals in your subject that clear both checks.

TNAU has fixed the author order also, and you must come as first author. The chairman of your advisory committee will be the corresponding author. If the scheme’s PI is a different person, then the PI takes that place. Committee members are added as co-authors. By thesis submission time one paper must be published and the other one at least accepted.

Amrita asks for Q1 or Q2 papers at each milestone

Amrita fixes the level by quartile. Its 2024 policy wants journal papers in Q1 or Q2 of Scopus or Web of Science. The quartile is taken from the Scopus percentile. Q1 means the 75th percentile and above, and Q2 is from the 50th to the 75th percentile. You have to see the percentile in your own subject category only. We have seen one journal in Q1 in one subject category and in Q3 in another category.

The papers are linked to three milestones, the qualifying exam, Open Seminar I and Open Seminar II. You must be the primary author, and your thesis advisor has to be a co-author. For a Q1 journal even the first decision can take some months, so we tell our Amrita scholars to send the first manuscript as soon as the results are ready, not one month before the seminar.

What Bharathiar and Karunya accept as proof

Bharathiar’s 2025–26 regulations list the indexes discipline-wise. For planning, please note two points from it. At synopsis stage an accepted paper is enough, you need not wait till it is printed. Second point is about the compliance certificate for awardees. That certificate check the two papers and the two presentations once again. Suppose later the journal is found doubtful, you can get into trouble even after your viva is over.

At Karunya, clause 10.2 of the 2023 regulations wants two papers, either published or accepted, in refereed international journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science, before the synopsis. You also need two presentations at international conferences. The host has to be an institution of national importance or some similarly recognised body. Some private groups use big names for their conference, and those may not pass. Before you pay registration fee, just ask your Doctoral Committee once. In some cases the regulations allow patents as an alternative also.

Checking a journal before you send your paper

Many scholars are still asking us for a “UGC-CARE approved” journal. Actually that label is not there any more, because UGC has stopped keeping a journal list. In its 16 July 2025 notice the old list is kept only for reference, and UGC itself writes that being on it “does not imply validation or endorsement”. Bharathiar, Karunya and Amrita now name Scopus or Web of Science directly in their rules, and TNAU names NAAS.

We check three things for any journal you shortlist. First we see whether it is in the current Scopus source list under the correct ISSN. Elsevier’s content policy has a separate list of discontinued titles. They update it every month, so a journal that was fine last year may be dropped by now. Next we open the journal website and the publisher’s real site side by side, since cloned copies of good journals are going around. Last, we look at your university’s extra condition, whether it is NAAS 6.0, a Q2 percentile or a recognised conference host. Sometimes an email comes promising publication in two weeks if you pay a fee, please ignore that mail and tell us before you reply to anybody.

How it works from Coimbatore

First tell us your university, subject and how many papers are pending, and for which milestone each paper is needed. Then share the thesis chapter or the results you want to turn into a paper.

From our side we send a shortlist of journals passing your university rule, and why each one is there. You and your supervisor choose the journal. After that you write the paper from your chapter. We sit with you on the structure first. Then language corrections we do along with you, and we match the paper to that journal’s author guidelines. The cover letter draft also we help with. When the reviewers send their comments, both of us read them one by one, and you write the reply to every point. Before starting, the fee and scope are fixed in writing.

We will not submit the paper for you or pay any publication charge in your name. Acceptance also we cannot promise, the editor only decides it and the editor will write to you directly since you are the author.