Procedure for Research Programmes

Admission to the M. Phil./ Ph. D. programme shall be made bi-annually as per the admission policy approved by the Academic Council of the University from time to time. University will issue a notice and call for applications for admissions in M. Phil. and Ph. D. programmes. The names of the available disciplines and prominent interdisciplinary topics will be published on the university website from time to time.

The applicants for both the M.Phil. and Ph. D. programmes who fulfill the eligibility criteria must be put through thePhD Entrance Test (PET) - a written test conducted by the University followed by a process of interview.

• Candidates qualified in UGC-NET (Including JRF)/UGC-CSIR NET (Including JRF/SLET/GATE (valid score) or teacher fellowship holders will be exempted from the Entrance Test for M.Phil./ Ph.D. programmes. Candidates who have passed M. Phil. Programme of the University will be exempted from the PET for Ph.D. programme.
• PET shall be qualifying with qualifying marks as 50%. The syllabus of the PET shall consist of 50% of research methodology and 50% shall be subject specific.
• PET will consist ofa 100 marks- multiple-choice-type question paper, out of which, 50 questions shall contain general knowledge, research methodology and aptitude related questions (Section-A) whereas50 questions shall be shall be subject specific (Section-B).

• An interview shall be organizedfor the candidatesqualified in PET and the ones exempt from it where the candidates are required to discuss their research interest/area through a presentation before a duly constituted Interview Committee for this purpose.
• The interview shall also consider the following aspects, viz. whether
  • The candidates possess the competence for the proposed research.
  • The research work can be suitably undertaken at the Department/Institutions.
  • The proposed area of research can contribute to new/additional knowledge.
• During the Interview, the applicant will be assessed on his interest and motivation in doing research, conceptual clarity on chosen area of research and his past academic and research performances.

• Applicants shall be short listed on the basis of merit for the predetermined seats available in each Department/Faculty for M. Phil./ Ph.D. programmes of the University in an academic session.
• Selected Candidates shall be asked to join within a period of one month from the date of the offer made to them. Under exceptional circumstances, an additional one month period may be given to the selected candidates to join the program.
• Vacancies, arising out of any candidate's failure to join within the stipulated time, shall be filled from amongst the candidates in the merit list.

Final shortlisted candidates will take admission in the University by filling up the admission form, have their original document verified and by paying the stipulated fee.

The M.Phil./ Ph.D. programmes run under theordinance of the University, which has allowed constant modulation of the programme in response to the changing needs of the students. Spread over two semesters, the course work of the M. Phil./ Ph. D. programmes are common and has the following structure:

• The course work for the M. Phil. / Ph. D. programmes consists of two courses in each of the first two semesters, totalling to 4 courses and carries 16 credits. Two of these courses are compulsory, namely Research Methodology and Seminar. The other courses are subject-specific elective courses (SEC) and should be chosen on the basis of the research interest of the candidate and the supervisor(s). 
• In the end of the 2nd semester, the candidate should submit a research proposal containing thorough literature review and a viable research plan in accordance with their respective programme (M. Phil. / Ph. D.).
• An M. Phil./Ph. D. scholar has to obtain a minimum of 55% marks or equivalent grade points  in the course work in order to be eligible to continue in the programme and submit the dissertation/thesis.
• In the 2nd year (3rd semester), students work on their research only. The candidates for the M. Phil. programme should work on their dissertation by writing an individually supervised essay on the area of their research interest. At the end of the this semester, interested students may apply for a direct transfer to the Ph. D. programme without completing their M. Phil. Decisions on such applications take into account the performance of the student in coursework and the quality and viability of the research proposal.
• Awarding of grades to research candidates based on their performance shall be done as per the applicable ordinances and regulations for undergraduate and Post graduate programs of Engineering under the Faculty of Technology. Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA) shall be also calculated based on the formulae stipulated in University Examination Rules and regulations.
• A minimum of 75% attendance of the classes held in each course is mandatory. 

The syllabus for the common courses Research Methodology and Research and Publication Ethics are given below

References:

1. Dawson, Catherine, 2002, Practical Research Methods, New Delhi, UBS Publishers' Distributors.
2. Kothari, C.R.,1985, Research Methodology-Methods and Techniques, New Delhi, Wiley Eastern Limited.
3. Kumar, Ranjit, 2005, Research Methodology-A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners, (2nd.ed), Singapore, Pearson Education.
4. Shrivastava, Shenoy& Sharma, Quantitative Techniques for Managerial Decisions, Wiley
5. Goode W J &Hatt P K, Methods in social research, McGraw Hill
6. Basic Computer Science and Communication Engineering – R. Rajaram (SCITECH)

Following guidelines for credit seminar shall be followed:

1. Seminar should be based on thrust areas in specific research domain.
2. Research scholar should do literature survey, identify the topic for seminar and finalize the same in consultation with Guide/Supervisor.
3. Research scholar is expected to use multiple literatures and understand the topic.
4. The seminar coordinator shall prepare report for each student presenting seminar in format prescribed by the University Guidelines for the internal assessment. For the University Examination, two Examiners shall be appointed to evaluate the seminar.

Following points must be assessed during the presentation of Credit Seminar:

1. Quality of Literature survey and Novelty in the topic
2. Relevance to the specialization
3. Understanding of the topic
4. Quality of Written and Oral Presentation

1. On/Before the scheduled completion of the coursework Departmental Research Committee (DRC) shall hold a meeting and allocate supervisor to each student based on student's research interest, supervisor's specialization and availability.
2. A Professor can take up to 8 PhD& 3 M Phil students, an Associate Professor can take up to 6 PhD& 2 M Phil and an Assistant Professor can take up to 4 PhD& 1 M Phil students at a time.
3. The Research Scholars are required to meet the Supervisors allocated to them and take guidance in determining the topic of research and preparation of a viable Research Plan, which shall be submitted to concern HOD/ Dean within six months after complete of course work.

1. The Research Scholar shall be required to defend his/her Research Plan in a presentation before the concerned Research advisory Committee (RAC) provided he/she has completed the course work.
2. By the advice of the supervisor, the scholar shall fill the application form for the RAC and submit to the supervisor, along with suggested number of copies of research plan, no objection certificate (if working professional, i.e. part time scholars), migration certificate (if not submitted earlier), enrolment form and fees receipt to date.
3. Upon satisfying the RAC with the corrections suggested if any, the Research Scholar shall submit four copies of finalised Research Plan to the Board of Research and Development (BRD) through the Supervisor..
4. If the RAC is not satisfied with the Research Plan and other documents submitted by the Research Scholar, it shall advise the candidate, through the Supervisor, along with necessary suggestions to submit a revised Research Plan for reconsideration within 60 days from the date of presentation.
5. Based on the recommendation of the RAC, The registration in the M. Phil./ Ph.D. programmes shall be confirmed by the Board of Research & Development (BRD) subject to clearance of dues towards the University.
6. The research scholar shall appear before the RAC once in six months to make a presentation on the progress on his/her work for evaluation and further guidance. The six monthly progress reports with the comments of the RAC shall be submitted to the BRD.
7. If there are two consecutive ‘'Unsatisfactory' (US)’ reports, the RAC may recommend to the BRD to terminate the registration of the scholar.
8. M.Phil. scholars shall present at least one research paper in a conference/seminar and Ph.D. scholars shall publish at least two researchpapersin peer-reviewed journals (Only SCI/ SCOPUS/ WEB OF SCIENCE/ UGC care listed) and make two paper presentations in conferences/seminars before the submission of the dissertation/thesis for evaluation, and produce evidence for the same in the form of presentation certificates and/or reprints/ acceptance letter from the publisher/ editor. This evidence has to be certified by the Supervisor and the Head of concerned Department. Guidelines for research publications issued by the University shall be displayed on the official website of the University and shall be updated, from time to time.
9. Credits may be awarded for high-quality publications as per the guidelines issued by the UGC or other equivalent regulatory body from time to time.
10. Submission of progress report and semester seminars should continue till submission of thesis.

1. As the Supervisor feels that the thesis can be submitted within six months he/she shall ask the research scholar to prepare and submit a draft synopsis containing a summary and outline of chapters. The draft synopsis may not exceed 5000 words. The scholar shall, on recommendation of the supervisor, submit 8 copies of the synopsis to him/her for the consideration of the RAC.
2. After submission of synopsis scholar shall be required to make an open presentation of her/his work before the RAC, known as the Pre-Submission Seminar (PSS) convened by the Supervisor, all the teachers and research scholars of the Department concerned are to be present in this seminar with a view to obtain suggestions for possible improvements.
3. The Supervisor shall forward the copies of the draft synopsis to the members of the RAC at least two weeks before the Pre-submission Seminar (PSS).
4. The written report of RAC on PSS containing suggestions and observations that shall be communicated to the research scholar through the Supervisor within one week from the date of the PSS to be incorporated in the synopsis and the thesis.
5. A Ph.D. scholar is required to submit the thesis within six months (but not earlier than one month) from the date of his/her pre-submission seminar, failing which he/she shall be required to deliver a fresh pre-submission seminar.

A thesis should be supplemented by published work, in refereed journals and in notable conferences. A scholar may submit his thesis within the time period as stipulated in rules provided that:

1. The scholar shall initially submit three copies of the thesis/ dissertation with a soft cover. In case of co-supervision four hardcopies and one electronic copy in CD/USB stick of thesis/ dissertation shall be submitted by the scholar.
2. The thesis/ dissertation shall be put through anti plagiarism software to detect any kind of Academic dishonesty.
3. For this purpose, the University shall evolve a mechanism using well-developed software and gadgets prescribed by the UGC to detect plagiarism and other forms of academic unethical practices.
4. Each thesis/ dissertation will go through a Plagiarism Check that will be verified by the University Library before submission. The certificate of verification given by the library has to be submitted along with the thesis/ dissertation at the time of thesis submission.
5. The thesis/ dissertation has to be submitted within 30 days from the date of plagiarism check.
6. While submitting for evaluation, the thesis/ dissertation shall have an undertaking from the research scholar and a certificate from the Research Supervisor attesting to the originality of the work, vouching that there is no plagiarism and that the work has not been submitted for the award of any other degree of the same Institution where the work was carried out, or to any other Institution.
7. The Supervisor and Head/ Dean of concerned department shall countersign these certificates for submission of the thesis/ dissertation. In case of resubmission the same procedure may be followed.
8. The research scholar shall also attach a Student Approval Form in the format provided by the UGC for hosting and distributing their thesis/ dissertation in digital format in ·shodhganga', or any other server designated for this purpose by UGC.
9. The thesis/dissertation shall be in the English Language, except for those submitted in the Departments of Hindi, Marathi, Modern Indian Languages, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu etc, in which the thesis/dissertation shall be written in respective language or language approved by the BRD on the recommendation of RAC.
10. The research scholar shall submit the thesis/dissertation, along with the prescribed proforma, to the Dean, R&D/ Controller of Examinations, duly forwarded by Supervisor(s), the Head of the Department concerned and Dean of the Faculty.
11. A Ph.D. student shall, along with his/her thesis, also submit four hard copies and one soft copy in PDF format (in a CD) of the abstract of the thesis written in about 600 words describing the salient features of his/her investigation.

1. If the thesis/ Dissertation has been recommended for the award of degree on the basis of evaluation reports, the Dean, Research and Development shall fix the date of the viva-voce of the research scholar in consultation with the supervisor.
2. A scholar who has been recommended for viva-voce examination shall be required to defend his work/thesis by a PPT presentation.
3. The viva-voce shall be open to all teachers and research scholars of the Faculty.
4. The viva-voce shall be conducted by the examiners comprising the Supervisor, Co-supervisor, if any, and external examiner(s) and shall be open to all teachers and research scholars.
5. Following the successful completion of the evaluation process and before the announcement of the award of the M.Phil./Ph.D. degree(s), the University concerned shall submit an electronic copy of the M.Phil. dissertation /Ph. D. thesis to the INFLIBNET, for hosting the same so as to make it accessible to all Institutions/Colleges.

1. After the viva-voce, the reports of the examiners shall be placed before the RRC and, if the RRC is satisfied that the reports of the examiners are unanimous and definite in recommending the award of the degree, it may recommend to the Academic Council for the award of M. Phil./ Ph.D. degree.
2. The date of award of the M.Phil. /Ph.D. degree shall be the same as the date of viva-voce examination. Ph.D. degrees which are pursued either full time or part time will be treated as degrees awarded through Regular Mode.
3. The hard bound copies of the final version of the Ph.D. thesis, must contain the following copyright certificate in the beginning of the thesis, on a separate page on the left side: © CSMU, PANVEL, NAVI MUMBAI 20... ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4. Prior to the actual award of the degree, the University shall issue a provisional Certificate and the final degree will be awarded in the Convocation.