Anna University Annexure I journals, explained

What is Anna University’s Annexure I journal list?

It is the university’s own approved list of journals, kept by the Centre for Research in Chennai. Anna University does not use UGC-CARE or a Scopus search to decide whether your paper counts for a PhD. It uses this list.

The name comes from the 2020 regulations. When CFR amended the research department and supervisor recognition norms in February 2022, the amended text referred to “journals listed in Centre for Research Website (Annexure I)”. The CFR page headed ANNEXURE - I still carries that title, with a note that it applies to scholars admitted from January 2021 onwards and a date of 10 April 2021.

The current regulations, R2025, don’t use the word “Annexure” for journals at all. Clause 16.2 simply says “Journals (listed in CFR website)”. The same list decides your synopsis (clause 16.2), the papers bound into your thesis (up to five, clause 17.5), and supervisor and research department recognition (clause 7.3 and the department norms).

The list is large: about 12,200 titles on the common Journal List when we checked in September 2026. CFR’s October 2022 circular on fake journals admits it cannot establish the authenticity of more than 11,000 listed journals and leaves that check to researchers. Being on the list tells you the title is approved. It doesn’t tell you the website in front of you is the real journal.

Main list, supplementary lists and department lists: which one applies to you?

CFR has published seven journal pages. Each one says, at the top, who it is for. When we checked in September 2026, the Journal menu linked five of them; the two Annexure pages had been taken out of the menu but still opened from a direct link.

Start with the common Journal List. It says it applies to every registered scholar, it is the list the menu now leads to, and it is where CFR adds newly approved journals (the October 2025 amendments added 42 titles “under the Journal List”).

The supplementary lists look like journals kept for older batches. In our check, every title on Supplementary List I also appeared on the Annexure I page, and all but one were missing from the common Journal List. CFR doesn’t explain this on the pages themselves, so treat that as our reading, not a rule. If your journal appears on an Annexure or supplementary page but not on the Journal List, write to CFR through your supervisor and keep its written reply on file before submitting.

The department lists are narrower than they look

The English and Management Studies lists were added on the decision of the 42nd Research Board. Both circulars say two things you should read carefully. First, the added journals count only for scholars of that department, and for supervisor recognition of faculty in that department. Second, papers communicated or published in those journals before the circular date don’t count. The circulars don’t say whether “Department of English” means only the university’s own department or any recognised English research centre. If you are at an affiliated college, ask.

How do you check a journal against the official CFR list?

Do this before you submit the paper, not after acceptance.

1. 1

   Get the journal’s ISSNs from the journal itself

   Note both the print and the electronic ISSN from the journal’s own website, then confirm them on the ISSN Portal. Titles are often abbreviated or spelt differently on the CFR pages, so the ISSN is the safer key.

2. 2

   Search the live CFR Journal List first

   Open the Journal List on cfr.annauniv.edu, let the whole table load, and search for each ISSN, then for the title. Do not rely on a PDF or spreadsheet copy that a friend forwarded; it may be years old.

3. 3

   If it is not there, check the list for your batch and department

   Registered between the January 2021 and July 2022 sessions? Check Supplementary List I. Registered before January 2021? Check Supplementary List II. In the English or Management Studies department? Check your department list as well.

4. 4

   Read the circulars issued since the list was last changed

   Inclusions and removals are announced in Research Board circulars and regulation amendments on the same site. The October 2025 amendments, for example, added 42 journals and removed one.

5. 5

   Confirm you have the genuine journal, not a clone

   Compare the website address with the one given in the Web of Science Master Journal List, which the CFR circular on fake journals names for checking authenticity. Same title and ISSN with a different website is the warning sign.

6. 6

   Keep dated evidence and tell your supervisor

   Save a dated screenshot of the CFR entry and the journal page, and ask your supervisor to confirm the choice at the next Doctoral Committee meeting so it is on record.

The CFR pages are long tables, not PDFs, so let the whole table load before deciding a journal is missing. The Journal List shows print and electronic ISSNs in separate columns; the older Annexure pages show one ISSN only.

CFR’s fake-journal circular of 21 October 2022 is blunt: papers published in counterfeit copies of listed journals “will be summarily rejected”, and CFR takes no responsibility for scholars who publish in them “either out of ignorance or due to oversight”. Its warning signs include the same name and ISSN on a different website, and invitations by email, WhatsApp or Telegram. Our predatory journal guide sets out the wider checks.

What counts toward the Anna University PhD publication requirement?

Here is what R2025, as amended on 23 October 2025, actually says. These are the clauses the Centre for Research checks when your synopsis arrives.

• A full-length research article. R2025 defines “Publication” as a full-length, peer-reviewed research article reporting new findings, published after provisional registration (Definitions, item xvi). Clause 16.2 excludes short communications, short notes, letters and parts of a collection.
• In a regular issue of a CFR-listed journal, in your field. Clause 16.2 asks for at least one such article, based on your own research work.
• Your place in the author list. First author, or second author when your supervisor is first. The corresponding author must be you, your supervisor or your joint supervisor, and a paper with a PG student as corresponding author is not considered. At least one paper may have no more than four authors. Our authorship guide covers how to agree this early.
• Or one granted Indian patent. Since the amendment of 23 October 2025, “Patent” means a patent granted by the Indian Patent Office under the Patents Act, 1970, for an invention from your PhD work. Design registrations and copyrights do not count. Clause 16.4 limits the applicant to you, your supervisor or your institution, and caps inventors at four on at least one patent.
• Visible, and still there at the end. Clause 16.3 wants DOI or issue details on the journal’s site, and the paper must stay in the regular issue until your programme is complete. Clause 17.2 asks for the volume and issue number and ignores papers retracted during thesis scrutiny.
• Two papers for an early synopsis. Clause 16.1 lets you submit the synopsis up to three months early, before your minimum period ends, only if you have two full-length articles or patents.

Where the regulations are silent

Clause 16.2 says the scholar “has published”. It doesn’t mention accepted or in-press papers, and clause 16.3 asks for DOI or issue information, so plan on the paper being out, not merely accepted, before your synopsis meeting. R2025 also doesn’t repeat the note, added to the 2020 regulations in August 2024, that papers in special issues of Q1 journals could be considered on a technical committee’s recommendation. If you are relying on a special-issue paper, ask CFR which rule applies to your batch.

The CFR FAQ lists common reasons a synopsis is returned: a retracted paper, a paper that is not full-length, and authorship that breaks the number-of-authors or corresponding-author conditions. All three are avoidable at the journal-choice stage.

For how Anna University’s rule compares with UGC’s national position and other universities, see our guide to the publication requirement for a PhD.

What happens if a journal is dropped from the list?

CFR removes journals by circular, and two recent circulars show how it handles papers already in the pipeline.

• January 2025. The circular of 27 January 2025, issued on the 44th Research Board’s decision, removed the Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems after its publisher retracted more than 450 papers in 2024. Papers accepted before the notification could still be used for the synopsis up to 31 December 2025, but papers communicated after 20 January 2025 would not be considered. The same applied to supervisor and research centre recognition.
• October 2025. The amendments of 23 October 2025 removed Global NEST Journal with immediate effect. Papers accepted in it are considered for the synopsis only if they were communicated to the journal on or before 23 October 2025.

The January 2025 circular also set out what happens if a paper you rely on is retracted. If you publish further work that fits the content already in your thesis, the Doctoral Committee reviews and approves it, and you carry on. If the new paper contains material that isn’t in the thesis, you redo the synopsis meeting and submit a revised thesis.

If it happens to you, compare the circular’s cut-off date with your submission acknowledgement. Inside the window, ask your supervisor to write to CFR with the manuscript number and dates, and keep the reply. Outside it, plan a second paper in another listed journal now, not after the synopsis is returned. While a paper is under review, check the CFR announcements every few weeks.

Is the Annexure I journal list the same as Annexure I in the thesis rules?

No, and the shared name causes real confusion. The regulations themselves have annexures, and they are formatting specimens, not journal lists.

In R2025, the guidelines for preparing the synopsis point to Annexure I for the specimen cover page and title page of the synopsis. The thesis guidelines then refer to Annexure II (title page), Annexure III (certificate), Annexure IV (table of contents), Annexure V (list of symbols and abbreviations) and Annexure VI (the certificate that goes into the final version after the viva). The R2025 PDF we read prints specimens for Annexures I to V; the 2020 regulations printed all six.

So when a supervisor or a research office says “follow Annexure I”, it helps to ask whether they mean the journal list or the synopsis cover page. Our Anna University thesis format guide goes through the formatting annexures page by page.