UGC launches 'Shodh Chakra' initiative to help scholars, guides in research

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched the "Shodh Chakra" initiative by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre and UGC to help research scholars and their guides or supervisors in their research. This initiative will provide a facility for research scholars to collect, store, organise and cite their research work. The Shodh Chakra initiative was launched virtually today, May 10, 2022, at 10:30 am by UGC chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar.

According to the INFLIBNET website, Shodh Chakra is a platform for the research scholars, guides and universities to manage the research lifecycle of a research scholar. "It will help researchers to create their profiles and manage their preferences," it said. The researcher will be able to use the facilities of Shodh Chakra by logging in through the website -- schakrabeta.inflibnet.ac.in. To make the facilities available, the university or institute is required to provide information about their researchers and supervisors to the platform. 

The platform features facilities such as resources for research scholars to review literature for thesis submission. It will facilitate interaction between research scholars and guides, work progress tracking and administrative monitoring. Shodh Chakra will also provide statistics on ongoing research areas in India, claims UGC. It contains more than 3.5 lakh of full-text thesis to help in the review literature work, and also millions of articles from google scholar, IRINS, Crossref, and Open access platforms. Suggestive journals and upcoming conferences will also be included in the platform.