Achal Agrawal | |
|---|---|
| Born | India |
| Alma mater | Paris-Saclay University (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | Founder of India Research Watch |
| Awards | Nature's 10 (2025) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Applied mathematics, Data science, Research integrity, Scientometrics |
| Institutions | India Research Watch |
Achal Agrawal is an Indian data scientist and research integrity advocate.[1][2] He is the founder of India Research Watch (IRW),[3] a volunteer-run non-profit organisation established in November 2022 to investigate and raise awareness about scientific misconduct in India.[4][5][6] In 2025, he was named to Nature's 10, the journal Nature's annual list of people who shaped science.[7][8][9]
Education[edit | edit source]
Agrawal received a Doctor of Philosophy in applied mathematics from the Paris-Saclay University in Orsay, France, in 2016.[4] His doctoral research concerned coordination protocols and resource allocation in wireless communication networks.[10] He returned to India in 2018 and worked as an academic in data science before founding India Research Watch.[11]
India Research Watch[edit | edit source]
Agrawal founded India Research Watch[12] in November 2022 after an encounter with a student who had used paraphrasing software to repackage published work, an experience that prompted him to confront what he saw as widespread normalisation of research misconduct in Indian higher education[13][14]
IRW uses publicly available data, including the Retraction Watch database, to track retraction trends at Indian institutions. Agrawal's analyses showed that India's retraction rate rose from 0.7 per 1,000 papers in 2014 to a peak of 4.8 in 2022.[15][16] In 2024, Agrawal and collaborator Moumita Koley at the Indian Institute of Science flagged concerns that some universities may have been manipulating metrics[17] used in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).[18][19] IRW's advocacy is widely credited with contributing to a 2025 policy change by the NIRF to impose penalties[20] on higher-education institutions with high numbers of retracted papers[21][22]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Naddaf, Miryam (2025-12-08). "This science sleuth revealed a retraction crisis at Indian universities". Nature. 648 (8094): 518–518. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03839-2. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ↑ "Achal Agrawal Exposes Research Misconduct In India".
- ↑ "Calls beckon for a research watchdog in India - QS Insights Magazine 34". magazine.qs.com. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ravindranath, Prasad (2025-12-09). "Achal Agrawal, Research-Integrity Sleuth From India, Among 'Nature's 10 People Who Helped Shape Science In 2025'". Science Chronicle. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Agrawal, Achal (2023-11-16). "Alarming rise of scientific misconduct recorded in India | Data". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ "Do we really need to worry about hyper-prolific authors?". Times Higher Education (THE). 2026-03-26. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Naddaf, Miryam (2025). "This science sleuth revealed a retraction crisis at Indian universities". Nature. 648: 518. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03839-2.
- ↑ 中時新聞網 (2025-12-10). "《自然》十大科學人物 DeepSeek梁文鋒入選 - 兩岸新聞". 中時新聞網 (in 中文（臺灣）). Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Andrei, Mihai (2025-12-08). "Ten People Who Shaped Science In 2025". ZME Science. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ "Achal Agrawal's research works". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ "Science journal 'Nature' honours Raipur data scientist Achal Agrawal for exposing academic misconduct". Archived from the original on 2026-02-12. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Basu, Mohana (2024-01-22). "This Indian watchdog is cleaning up 'mess' in academia—falsification, fabrication & fraud". ThePrint. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Excelsior, Daily (2026-01-14). "Achal Agrawal and the Moral Reawakening of Indian Science". Daily Excelsior. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ "Penalise 'retraction hotspot' universities, says integrity expert". Times Higher Education. 2026-01-15. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Oransky, Ivan (2014-01-25). "Weekend reads: Trying unsuccessfully to correct the scientific record; drug company funding and research". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Desk 1, IndraStra Global Editorial. "Growing Cases of Scientific Misconduct in India Spark Worry Within the Academic Community". IndraStra Global. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Koley, Moumita (2023-06-14). "Explained | Is the National Institutional Ranking Framework flawed?". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ Agrawal, Achal; Koley, Moumita (2024-08-20), Are the Metrics being Gamed? A Closer Look at the Rise and Fall of Universities in NIRF 2024 Rankings, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/ZENODO.13350313, retrieved 2026-03-31
- ↑ Koley, Achal Agrawal, Moumita (2024-07-08). "NIRF parameters ill-designed & lead to absurd university ratings. Govt must order a review". ThePrint. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Mallapaty, Smriti (2025-08-01). "India to penalize universities with too many retractions". Nature. 644 (8076): 317–318. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02364-6. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ↑ "NIRF ranking 2025: Higher education institutes to be penalised for retracted papers". Hindustan Times. 2025-08-08. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
- ↑ "NIRF to introduce negative marking for retracted papers, poor quality research". The Economic Times. 2025-10-03. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2026-03-31.