Revision to the point system by the Dental Council of India

I read the ‘Letter to the Editor’ titled Revised point system of the Dental Council of India (DCI) for publications by faculty.[1] The author mentions the introduction of a point system for publications to be considered for academic promotions for postgraduate faculty in dental subjects published in 2017 September in The Gazette of India.

Recently, the DCI in the MDS inspection proforma (in every subject) available under the ‘Download’ section of the website 2 has revised the list of journals that may be considered as optional in Category I as also which are indexed with Web of Science, Scopus and also any faculty who owns a patent [Table 1].

Table 1.

Points system for publication

Category	Points
Category I:	15
(1) Journals Indexed to PubMed - Medline Please see- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
(2) Journals published by Indian/International Dental Specialty Associations approved by Dental Council of India.
Category II:	10
(1) Medical/Dental Journals published by Government Health Universities awarding dental degree or Govt. Universities awarding dental degree
(2) Original Research/Study approved by I.C.M.R/Similar Govt. Bodies
(3) Author of Text/Reference Book concerned to respective specialty
(4) PhD. or any other similar additional qualification after MDS
Category III:	5
(1) Journals published by Deemed Universities/Dental Institutions/Indian Dental Association
(2) Contribution of Chapters in the Text Book

MAY BE CONSIDERED AS OPTIONAL IN CATEGORY-I, The Journals indexed to the following agencies can be accepted:-

 Web of Science https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/webofscience-platform/Scopus www.scopus.com All original research articles, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, case reports and review articles published in Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed. Owner of Patent

Note:

For any publication, except original research, first author (principal author) will be given 100% points and remaining authors (co - authors) will be given 50% points and up to a maximum of five co-authors will be considered. For original research, all authors will be given equal points and up to a maximum of six authors will be considered. Maximum of three publications would be considered for allotting points in Category III. Publication in Tabloids/Souvenirs/Dental News mag azines/abstracts of conference proceedings/Letter of acceptance etc., will not be considered for allotment of points. For the purposes of this table, the crucial date for consideration of the publications shall be the last date for submission of application i.e., 30th of June of every year either for starting of MDS Course or increase of admission capacity in MDS Course, as the case may be, to the Central Government u/s 10A of the Dentists Act, 1948, for each academic year, as prescribed in the Time Schedule annexed to the Dental Council of India Regulations 2006 as amended from time to time.

 Total Score Required: For Professor and HOD: 40 marks, Professor: 30 marks, Reader/Associate Professor: 20 marks

However; the author in his concluding remark in the letter does suggest inclusion of other acceptable databases including Scopus which appears in the proforma along with Web of Science as well as PubMed.

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Conflicts of interest

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