In a move that could improve patient care in the long run, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has made it mandatory for assistant professors and associate professors to get at least two papers of their research work published in reputed journals, to be eligible to get promotion.
According to the recent recommendations of the academic council, the MCI board has communicated to the medical colleges conducting PG courses that “workshops in research methodology and scientific publication should be made compulsory for PG students and faculty”, said the note by the MCI.
The board members say that it has been made compulsory so that the spirit of conducting research is inculcated. They have, therefore, suggested that “either every college or two-three colleges together may conduct these workshops on a regular basis”, added the note.
According to a senior official in the MCI, at least two pieces of research published in an indexed journal (internationally accepted) will be required for promotion of assistant to associate and likewise two research pieces will be required for promotion of associate professor to professor. “Four pieces of research work will have to be produced to be eligible to become a professor,” said a senior official. There are over 6,000-odd internationally accepted journals which will be acceptable in regard to this announcement.
The officials in the MCI have also made it clear that those failing to produce it during the process of promotion, will have to face repercussions. “They will not considered eligible for the promotion. We have also found that many faculty members do not take interest in research work at all,” added the official.
A similar recommendation was made during the tenure of then MCI president Ketan Desai. The post-graduate committee of the MCI had recommended then that in order to be eligible to write their exams, postgraduate students must, as part of their course, publish, or get accepted for publication, at least one research paper.