COURSE PLAN
For
Research Methodology and Publication Ethics (23PD401PC701)
Course Coordinator : [Link] Maram
Course Instructors : One from each Dept
Course Type : Core course
Semester and Year : I semester- Ph.D.
L-T-P : 4-0-2
Credits : 5 (2+1)
School : Common to all
Department : Ph.D
Course Level : Ph.D
Research Office
SR University,
Warangal
COURSE CONTEXT
Common to all Ph.D
scholars
DEPARTMENT
N/A
SCHOOL
DATE THIS
COURSE WILL
DEGREE Ph.D BE EFFECTIVE August, 2024
FROM
COURSE BRIEF
Research
COURSE TITLE Methodology PRE-REQUISITES NA
and
Publication
Ethics
COURSE CODE 23PD401PC701 TOTAL CREDITS 5
COURSE TYPE Blended mode L-T-P FORMAT 4-0-2
COURSE SUMMARY
The course covers all the conceptual and methodological issues that go into the
successful conduct of research. That includes philosophy of science, the
methodological issues in measurement, proposing and testing hypotheses, scientific
communication and the ethical issues in the practice of science. This particular
course is designed in a way that the research scholars will understand all the
intricacies of research and persuade it with confidence.
COURSE-SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES (CO)
By the end of this program, students should have the following knowledge, skills
and values:
CO1: Demonstrate understanding of intricacies of research
CO2: Understand the concept of research, various terminologies involved in
research
CO3: : Ability to define and apply appropriate parameters and research problems
CO4: Ability to develop skills to draft research paper
CO5: Ability to analyse and comprehend the ethical practices in conducting research
and dissemination of results in different forms
Course Articulation Matrix
PO PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6 PO7 PO8 PO9 PO10 PO11 PO12 PSO1 PSO2
CO
CO1
CO2
CO3
CO4
CO5
Mapping
Target
Level
DETAILED SYLLABUS
Unit I: Objectives and types of research: Motivation and objectives, research
methods vs methodology. Types of research. Research formulation: Defining and
formulating the research problem, selecting the problem, the necessity of defining the
problem, Literature review – Scientometrics and Systematic- PRISMA protocol,
searching through databases and registries, research gap identification and processing.
Unit II: Research design and methods: Research design basic principles, need of
research design, features of good design, important concepts relating to research
design, observation, and facts. Execution of the research, data collection and
analysis: Data collection, sources, validation, sampling, tools and software for data
processing, important statistical concepts for data processing, AI applications in
research.
Unit III: Ethics in scientific dissemination: Ethics in science and research,
Intellectual honesty and integrity, Scientific and publication misconduct:
Falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP), Redundant publication, salami
slicing, duplication publication, selective reporting, and misrepresenting data.
Authorship misrepresentation, CRediT statement, Plagiarism checking tools.
Publication ethics: Importance and best practices (COPE, WAME), predatory
publication, tools to identify (SPPU), unethical behaviour in publication.
Unit IV: Access and metrics: Open access: Open access movement, Budapest
agreement, and other movements, SHERPA/ RoMEO/ DOAJ, Journal finders, and AI
tools. Indexing databases and metrics: Proquest, Ulrich, Scopus, Web of Science,
Dimensions, Author metrics ( h-index, g-index, i10 index, altmetrics), Citation
analysis, Journal metrics ( JCR, Citescore, SNIP, SJR, other measures)
Unit V: Reporting and thesis writing: Structure and components of scientific
reports, report types, technical reports and thesis. Thesis writing, concept and process
involved, bibliography, referencing and footnotes. Oral presentation planning,
software tools, creating and making effective presentations, use of visual aids,
importance of effective communication, Introduction to Intellectual property rights,
Patent, Industrial design, copyright- Process involved.
Unit VI: Domain-specific research training focusing on enhancing research skills to
persuade research in their respective domain.
LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS:
1. Introduction to research paper writing
2. Research Metrics and interpretation of research metrics.
3. Review paper writing using AI-based tools in an ethical way
4. Plagiarism: Identification and abatement: Process and protocols
5. Role of AI tools in research paper analysis
TEXTBOOKS/LEARNING RESOURCES:
1. The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition by Wayne C. Booth, Joseph
Williams, and Gregory G. Colomb
2. Writing for Social Science Research by Howard Becker
3. Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner's Guide to Doing a
Research Project by Rupert Wong
4. Research Methods in Education by Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion,
and Keith Morrison
MOOC COURSES (Reference to the Course):
1. Understanding Research Methods | Coursera
2. Research Methodologies | Coursera
3. Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis | Coursera
4. Introduction to Statistics | Coursera
5. Introduction to Academic Writing | Coursera
6. NUS: Quantitative and Qualitative Research for Beginners | edX
7. EdinburghX: Introduction to Social Research Methods | edX
Lecture Wise Plan ( All lectures are of 60 – 80 min duration in online
mode)
No. Content Planned
Introduction to RMPE- Motivation and Objectives for Research – Why should
1
one pursue research? Case studies on research and its importance to society
Case studies of important research works that pushed human evolution –
2 Invention of wheel- Telephone, communication, computers, Robotics,
Artificial Intelligence
Types of research – Introduction to Exploratory Research, Experimental
Research, Fundamental Research, Applied Research, Causal Research, Cross-
3
sectional research, Longitudinal research, Conclusive research, survey-based
research.
Qualitative Research – Types- concepts- how to perform? Structured
4 interviews and semi-structured interviews – Ethnography, Narrative,
Phenomenology, Grounded theory, case studies.
Quantitative Research - Causal-Comparative Research- Correlational
5
Research- Experimental Research- Survey Research
6 Research problems – Understanding the nuances – How to define a problem
statement- Theory and practice of problem definition
Problem definition and persuading the problem statement – Concepts of problem
7
definition, what is a good problem statement?
8 Literature Review – How to do it? Searching through registries, databases and
using AI search tools- Generative AI and its use in Scientific literature review
9 PRISMA protocol-based research review methods
10 SPAR4SLR based research review methods
11 Writing a review article with research tools : online and desktop-based tools-
Purpose-Usage- Exposure
12 Buffer class
13 Research Design – Principles and components
14 Features of a good research design – Types and characteristics
15 Observation and facts – Importance of observation
16 Data collection and analysis – Coordinated with laboratory practice using
statistics
17 Data manipulation techniques – Manual and software based methods
18 Statistical concepts for research – Fundamental statistics- Importance and
methods
19 Importance of statistical inference for researchers: Importance and methods
20 Mean, Median, Mode calculation – Problems
21 Variance and Standard deviation calculation - Problems
22 Histogram and statistical distribution – Software based approach for calculation
23 Population and sampling techniques in research – Software based approach for
calculation
24 Statistical software for research- Theory to practice – Demonstration of Minitab
25 Buffer class
26 Ethics in research and science, Scientific misconduct – Case studies
27 COPE and other organization in controlling unethical practices
28 WAME and its importance in avoiding unethical practices: Case study – Ethics
in medical research
29 Publication and other dissemination related ethical issues
30 Best practices in ethical dissemination of research – Case studies – COPE
based case studies
31 Predatory publication – Identification of sources and how to avoid? -
Demonstration
32 Authorship misrepresentation and role of CRediT author statement
33 Recent issues in publication industry and its impact on researchers: Trends,
practices and methods to avoid issues
34 Buffer class
35 Open access movement and its importance in research dissemination
36 Agreements and treaties in open access movement
Journal finders and AI tools – Elsevier, Springer, Tandfonline, Emerald journal
37
finders- Non proprietary tools for journal finding.
38 Think, Check and submit concept, how it works and how to use it?
39 Indexing databases – Usage, process and conflicts, Paid and open access
databases
40 Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, Agriculture database, Pubmed, Lens,
Patseer – Concept and demonstration
41 Article, author, journal level metrics- Usage and interpretation
42 Searching and understanding the metrics- A newbie researchers’ perspective
43 Buffer class
44 Scientific reports and white papers – Concept to finalisation
45 Thesis and report writing – Nuances – Sections in a good thesis –
Demonstration of Proquest, Sodhganga- OATD and EBSCO
46 Modern software tools for report writing – An introduction – Paperpal,
Writefull, Zoho writer- Ethical usage of Generative AI tools for report writing
47 What is a good thesis? Sample case study- Formation of content, sections,
processing, editing, proof reading and validating
Plagiarism and AI content identification and avoiding – Demonstration using
48 Turnitin and iThenticate – How to read and interpret a good plagiarism report-
Shortcomings and pitfalls
49 Tools for creating effective presentations – Canva and Lucid chart based case
studies
Intellectual property rights – Importance of IPR to researcher – Important IPR
50 filings in recent decade- Why a researcher should secure his innovation through
IPR?
51 Important IPR cases that revolutionized research practices- Case study – IPR in
Innovation management
52 Copyright – Process, importance and how to copyright a content –
Copyrighting a content- Intricacies
53 Indian patent and other IPR laws – An introduction
54 Industrial design – Process, importance and filing procedure in the Indian
context
55 Patent filing process, opposition, hearing and granting process
56 Doubt-clearing session and discussion
Lab Wise Plan/ Hands on session
No. Content Planned
Introduction to research paper writing
1
Research Metrics and interpretation of research metrics.
2
Review paper writing using AI-based tools in an ethical way
3
Plagiarism: Identification and abatement: Process and protocols
4
Role of AI tools in research paper analysis
5
Review paper writing using AI-based tools in an ethical way
6
AI based search engines for academic research
7
Evaluation Components
[Link] Max. Marks
Internal 60
External 40
▪ Advanced Research Topics: Important research works and its
contribution to the society, AI impregnation into research
domain.
Attendance Policy
1. At least 75% attendance in the course is mandatory.
2. A maximum of 5% shall be allowed under medical grounds and 5% on representing the
University on official events outside like sports, hackathons, NCC, NSS etc.
3. Students with less than 65% of attendance shall be prevented from writing the final
assessment.
4. Scholars who are attending the class without video switched on will be marked as
absent for that particular session.
5. Poll submission is mandatory, any scholar who is not submitting the poll will be
marked absent for that session.
Academic Dishonesty & Plagiarism
Plagiarism is "to offer work or ideas from another source as one's own, with or without
authorization of the source author(s), directly by verbatim copying or by usage of any AI
software" (i.e., with or without permission from the original author). In certain cases,
authorization might be provided for the usage of other sources through written permission
may not be considered as plagiarism. It is a serious academic offence which should be
avoided, the following method will be adopted to evaluate plagiarism in submitted documents
including assignments, material, class test content and other similar academic documents.
Level 1: Similarities up to 20% - Student will be asked to revise the document and resubmit for
evaluation, once chance will be provided to revise.
Level 2: Similarities above 20% to 40%- Student will be warned and one chance will be provided
to revise the document and resubmit.
Level 3: Similarities above 40% and above: If the plagiarism level is more than 40% student will
get a Fail grade.
AI tools and Generative AI usage policy: We strongly discourage the usage of any AI tools,
including any LLM-based tools to develop content for assignments, examination or other
evaluation component. Any such content, if found will be evaluated with zero marks without any
deliberation. We strongly encourage authors to develop content in their own, discuss and deliberate
for better understanding.
Instructor Responsible for Lecture PPTs Preparation:
Instructor Responsible for Preparation of Lab Assignments:
