ICSSR launches India Research Tour 2025 to strengthen academic integrity, inclusivity

UNion breeding ministry’s amerind Council of societal scientific discipline explore (ICSSR) in collaboration with Global research publisher Springer Nature on Monday launched the third edition of ‘India Research Tour,’ an outreach initiative aimed at promoting integrity, inclusivity, and innovation in research.Flagged off at the ICSSR campus in New Delhi by Union minister of state (MoS) for women and child development Savitri Thakur, the 40-day India Research Tour 2025 will traverse 15 cities across 7 states — including Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh — covering 29 institutions such as Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), IIM Calcutta, IIT Kanpur, Central University of South Bihar, and NIT Itanagar, among others.“India Research Tour supports women in research, strengthens ethics in scholarship, and ensures equitable access to opportunities and resources. Empowering women researchers and scholars is central to building an inclusive knowledge economy. By promoting ethical research practices and democratising access to knowledge, this initiative contributes directly to the vision of Viksit Bharat,” Thakur said while addressing the gathering after flagging off the tour.The initiative builds on the success of last two year’s tour while covering 36 institutions across 25 cities and 15 states and recognising over 200 women researchers at these institutes for their contributions to multidisciplinary research, said Spring Nature official.This year, the tour will visit leading educational institutions across the east and northeast, spanning engineering, medical sciences, and management disciplines. Its key focus areas include promoting open access, raising awareness about the government’s One Nation, One Subscription (ONOS) initiative, fostering discussions on research integrity and the role of artificial Intelligence (AI) in publishing, advancing diversity through Springer Nature’s ‘Her Research, Our Future’ campaign for women researchers, and supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by broadening knowledge access and inclusivity.Frank Vrancken Peeters, CEO, Springer Nature said, “The India Research Tour 2025 reflects our long-term commitment to India’s research ecosystem - building bridges between global best practices and local talent. We aim to empower researchers, foster collaboration, and accelerate India’s leadership in global science and scholarship.”Prof Dhananjay Singh, member secretary, ICSSR, said through this initiative the council “aims to strengthen research capacity, uphold high standards of research integrity, and support evidence-based policymaking that benefits society at large.”