Delhi University is working towards publishing its own journals, which will be uploaded online and accessible for free.

A DU officer said the journals will be uploaded by October. But there will be no print edition of the journals.

“Reputed universities have their journals. With a huge number of colleges and departments under the varsity, the research that goes unnoticed can be published in the journal,” said the officer.

“Currently, we are thinking of publishing three journals in areas like humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and creative writing.”

DU is also mulling over opening the chance of getting one’s research work published in the undergraduate level. “The four-year graduation to be implemented focuses on research work for undergraduate students too.

So we will not restrict it to research papers by postgraduate students,” added the officer. For the first issue, several prose and poetry written by students in college magazines will be picked up for the creative writing journal.

“It will be called DU-Vidha, a biannual creative writing journal, and will be in English and Hindi. The idea is to give a common platform to students to express through writing.”

Journals on humanities and social sciences and natural sciences will be research-based, and the articles will be selected by a committee. “Selection will be made on the basis of a peer review process. Experts on a specific topic will review the research papers,” said the officer.

“The papers will be reviewed by more than one member of the committee. The selected articles will be published once a year.” Cost-cutting is a crucial point in the move to have only an online version of the journals.

“The online version is easily accessible and brings down cost tremendously. We will not have any subscription fee. We have asked for research papers from other universities in India and abroad,” the officer added.