Dear Editor,We read with interest the editorial “Predatory publications - Recognize and avoid” published in the December issue of Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.[1] The authors have brought a pertinent but rarely discussed topic to the fore. We wholeheartedly agree with the authors that it is imperative for research to be published in creditable and quality journals in order to contribute to genuine scientific advancement. The dark business of predatory journalism has been fueled by, among other factors, the mandatory publications required for the appointment and promotion of faculty in medical colleges in India.[2] With the number of medical colleges steadily increasing [595 as per the National Medical Council (NMC) website], there has been a corresponding marked increase in the number of teaching faculty and hence the number of publications required. However, many of these colleges are not sufficiently equipped and are short-staffed to support good quality research work, along with the fact that most colleges procure equipment to fulfill the basic minimum statutory requirements laid down by NMC, with their primary aim being to get NMC recognition for running undergraduate courses. This often results in faculty engaging in poor quality unoriginal research, resulting in the non-acceptance of such research work in peer-reviewed indexed journals, which is always questioned by the reviewers of the article for the novelty of research questions and findings. Lack of publications poses a threat of being pushed down the seniority level/denial of promotion. This has led to the mushrooming of predatory journals, which feed on this “pressure to publish.” This was also possible due to several loopholes/omissions in the requisite publication criteria required as a prerequisite for appointment/promotion followed by the erstwhile Medical Council of India, which allowed research work published in these journals to be counted as valid publications for Teacher Eligibility Qualification (TEQ).The NMC (erstwhile Medical Council of India) has taken cognizance of this and has played a proactive role in minimizing the predatory journal publish culture by modifying the TEQ guidelines via gazette notification dated February 24, 2020.[3] These guidelines will be effective with effect from February 16, 2022. The points pertinent to publication criteria in the gazette are as follows:Publications: The research that will be considered include original articles, metanalysis, systematic reviews, and case series. A minimum of two publications are to have mandatorily been published during the tenure of Associate Professor and one during the tenure of Assistant Professor to be considered for promotion. This is a more inclusive list as compared to earlier criteria, which recognized only original research papers as a valid TEQ criterion.The indexing agencies in which publications will be accepted include Medline, Pubmed Central, Citation Index, Sciences Citation Index, Expanded Embase, Scopus, and Directory of Open Access Journals (DoAJ). This excludes Index Copernicus (which was included earlier) and is known largely to be a host of several predatory journals.[4]Authorship: For the publication to be credited to the faculty member, she must be among the first three authors or the corresponding author. This recognizes the fact that most research work is a collaborative process that usually involves multiple researchers who contribute significantly to the research. This is in contrast to the earlier mandatory criteria of the faculty being either the first author or corresponding author only.Basic Course in Biomedical Research. This is an online course conducted by Swayam (online portal of the National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)). It is conducted by the faculty of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and provides a comprehensive outline of the basics, planning, components, methodologies, and analysis of research work. It is now mandatory for the faculty member to have completed this course. This course has also now been compulsory for all ophthalmology post-graduate students.By these timely amendments, NMC is paving the way for inculcating a scientific temper, not just among students but also faculty. By making the TEQ criteria more conducive to the recognition of authentic research, NMC has made an effort to weed out predatory journalism. These efforts will gradually pave the way for genuine and original research which is an asset both for the researcher and the country.