Scopus publication support in Mumbai

How many papers do Mumbai’s universities want before a PhD synopsis or viva?

Between none and two, depending on who awards the degree. And each one counts different indexes. The national picture is in our publication requirement guide. The local rules are these.

The dates matter as much as the counts. At the University of Mumbai and TISS the paper sits in front of the synopsis, so it controls when you can finish. At NMIMS the paper holds up the viva, not the submission. ICT has the sharpest rule, for college teachers and laboratory staff. The 2026-27 admission manual says to publish or patent some part of the work within two years of registration. If you don’t, the registration will not be continued.

What makes a paper valid under the University of Mumbai’s R.PhD.17?

The university brought in its PhD regulations on the first day of 2026. They set four conditions. Miss any one of them and the paper doesn’t count:

1. The index. Scopus or Web of Science, with ABDC “where ever applicable”. In practice that means commerce and management. UGC-CARE isn’t mentioned at all. Is your only paper in a journal that is merely CARE-listed? Then ask the RAPC in writing, before the synopsis, whether it will be accepted. Our guide to management PhDs in Mumbai covers the ABDC side.
2. The authors. R.PhD.17(3) requires joint authorship with your supervisor, each of you first or last. A paper with your supervisor in the middle of the author list, or missing, is not treated as valid.
3. The content. The paper must come from the doctoral work, and R.PhD.17(4) makes its contents an integral part of the thesis.
4. The evidence. At the synopsis, an acceptance letter or the published copy is enough. By the thesis you need the published paper itself, and its copy goes at the end (R.PhD.19(6)).

The university’s code of conduct in R.PhD.30 adds rules that journal-hunting scholars sometimes forget. Papers from work at a research centre must carry the centre’s address. Authorship is for significant intellectual contribution, with no honorary names. When you declare a paper, you must state its real status with proof: submitted, under review, accepted or in press. You may not publish much the same paper twice. And researchers should not support predatory or fake journals. R.PhD.31 also applies similarity levels to publications. Above 10%, you can be asked to withdraw the manuscript.

Where the paper sits among coursework, the proposal and registration is explained in our guide to Mumbai University PhD admission.

Why do NMIMS and TISS scholars plan their papers differently?

NMIMS: first author, twice. Clause 11.2 of the NMIMS PhD guidelines requires at least two first-author papers based on the PhD work. The list of accepted indexes depends on your area. It’s Scopus, Web of Science or ABDC for pharmacy, sciences, engineering and management, and UGC-CARE for law and other areas. A granted Indian, US or European patent counts as one publication. A filed or published application isn’t enough under that wording. The School of Business Management’s operating procedures let the thesis go to examiners before the second paper appears. But the viva is held only once the requirement is met. The copies you submit must be certified by your supervisor and the Dean. Clause 5.4 of the guidelines adds one more step. External presentations and similar dissemination need approval from the research committee or the Dean, so check before you send an abstract to a conference.

TISS: two, and one may still be in press. The TISS research scholars’ page sets one synopsis requirement: two published papers, or one published and one accepted. They must be in peer reviewed and indexed journals, meaning Scopus, Web of Science or UGC-approved. The same page still offers a UGC approved journal list dated 2020. That list is well out of date. Check any journal against the current Scopus source list, and read our UGC-CARE guide for where the UGC’s own list stands now.

So what’s the practical difference? At NMIMS you must lead the writing of both papers, so your guide can’t take first authorship as a courtesy. At the University of Mumbai the guide can be first and you last, or the other way round. At TISS the timing is kinder, because the second paper only needs an acceptance letter.

Which journals do ICT, HBNI and SNDT rule out for science and women’s-university scholars?

ICT. The Doctor of Philosophy Rules 2015 list the conditions for the degree. One of them is at least one research paper in a refereed and cited journal before the thesis is submitted. You also send three copies of your published contributions with the thesis. The admission manual goes further for college teachers and staff of national laboratories. Their publications must be in peer reviewed international journals. Multi-author papers with little input from the scholar should be avoided. And conference proceedings without peer review are not counted.

HBNI. Scholars at the Homi Bhabha National Institute’s Mumbai units, such as BARC and the Tata Memorial Centre, follow HBNI’s guidelines for authorship of papers. The guidelines leave the minimum number of papers to the Academic Council, discipline by discipline. They favour journals indexed in Scopus. A paper in a predatory journal won’t be counted by the Board of Studies towards accepting the synopsis, and that includes one that publishes for a fee without peer review. The guidelines recommend that a student author show HBNI as the primary affiliation. If you’re the communicating author, you need the guide’s approval before sending a paper to any journal. HBNI publishes these guidelines only on its http site, so ask your Dean-Academic for the current copy.

SNDT. The 2022 regulations set publication counts only for supervisors (five peer-reviewed papers for a Professor or Associate Professor, three for an Assistant Professor), not for scholars. Publishing still helps. The thesis annexure lists your publications, and examiners read that list.

Whichever rulebook applies, the risky journals are the same ones. Watch for titles that promise a Scopus date, clones of indexed journals, and journals that fell out of Scopus coverage. Our predatory journal guide shows how to check.

Working with us from Mumbai

First we talk on a video call about the paper, which rulebook governs you and when your synopsis is due. Journals and drafts then go back and forth by email. Review comments come as tracked changes in your own file. How we time it depends on the institution:

• University of Mumbai: we work back from the pre-synopsis presentation. Peer review commonly takes three to eight months (see how long publication takes). So a paper still being drafted six months before the synopsis is already late. We also check the author order before the manuscript leaves you. Your supervisor must be on it, first or last.
• NMIMS: you need two first-author papers, so we plan them together, one per research objective. If a paper suits only an index your area doesn’t accept, we flag it early.
• TISS: the second paper can be at the accepted stage by the synopsis. We aim both at journals with published review times you can live with.
• Commerce and management scholars: we check ABDC listing as well as Scopus coverage, since your rule may name either.

We check every shortlisted journal live on Scopus Sources. If you’ve been offered a journal, we’ll check it free of charge. You do the submission, in your name, from your own account. Our ethics policy sets out why we won’t write the paper or add names to it. Want to choose among candidate journals yourself? See how to choose a journal.