New Delhi, 3 Oct 2025

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) will soon add negative marking for retracted research papers and other issues. This new rule aims to improve the quality of research in Indian institutions.

New Rules for NIRF Rankings

The NIRF will give negative marks for research papers that journals take back. This is the first time NIRF will use negative marking. Anil Sahashrabudhe, who leads the National Board of Accreditation, said they are making new rules for this. The NIRF looks at five main things when ranking schools: teaching, student results, research, community work, and reputation. The NIRF will give negative marks for research papers that journals take back. This is the first time NIRF will use negative marking. Anil Sahashrabudhe, who leads the National Board of Accreditation, said they are making new rules for this. The NIRF looks at five main things when ranking schools: teaching, student results, research, community work, and reputation. New Delhi, The National Institutional Ranking Framework will soon introduce negative marking for several parameters, including retracted research papers and citation of tainted papers,…

Why Negative Marking is Important

Many schools have had a lot of research papers taken back in the last few years. This makes people doubt if the schools are good. The new rules will help fix this problem. Before, other big rankings like QS and Times Higher Education did not look at papers that were taken back. This let some schools get higher ranks even if they had bad research. A case in court also said NIRF should check the information schools give more carefully.

Unless we give negative marks, people will not correct it

The new rules for negative marking in NIRF will be announced soon. Follow The Rising News for more verified updates.

Updated 3 Oct 2025, 20:22 IST; source: link