Institutional Repositories, Research Metrics and Publication Ethics in Agricultural Universities of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh: A Documentary Analysis

Institutional Repositories, Research Metrics and Publication Ethics in Agricultural Universities of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh: A Documentary Analysis Dr. Amar Nath* Institutional repositories, research metrics and publication ethics have become important components of scholarly communication and research governance in higher education. Agricultural universities generate substantial quantities of theses, research articles, technical reports, institutional publications and other scholarly materials, creating a need for systematic digital preservation, discoverability, responsible research assessment and ethical publication practices. This paper examines these dimensions in four agricultural universities of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh: Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana; Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni; and Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV), Palampur. The study is based exclusively on secondary and tertiary sources, including official university and library websites, institutional policies, annual reports, repository and OPAC interfaces, Krishikosh and ShodhGanga, scholarly publications, and documents issued by ICAR, UGC, UNESCO, COPE and DORA. A documentary content-analysis and comparative approach was adopted. The analysis indicates that institutional repositories are increasingly connected with open access, thesis preservation, research visibility and institutional memory, while academic libraries are assuming wider responsibilities in repository management, plagiarism checking, information literacy and research support. The paper also discusses responsible use of bibliometric indicators and the need to integrate publication ethics into research assessment. It proposes an evidence-based framework for strengthening scholarly communication in agricultural universities. * Post Graduate Government College, Sector-11, Chandigarh, India, Affiliated to Panjab University, Chandigarh, Email: [email protected]