PRESIDENCY

 UNIVERSITY    
DEPARTMENT  OF  MATHEMATICS  
Syllabus  for  One  Semester  Ph.D.  Course  Work  
 

 
                                                                                                           

 
 

Department  of  Mathematics    

(Faculty  of  Natural  and  Mathematical  Sciences)  
Presidency  University    
Hindoo  College  (1817-­‐1855),  Presidency  College  (1855-­‐2010)  
86/1,  College  Street,  Kolkata  -­‐  700  073  
 

 
 Detailed  outline  of  the  Ph.D.  course  work  

Duration:  One  semester  (6  months)  

Course  Code   Course  Title   Course  Type   Credit   Marks  

MATHC1   Research  Methodology   Taught   4   50  

Research  and  Publication  

MATHC2   Taught   2   50  
Ethics  

Literature  Review  and  

MATHC3   Sessional   2   50  
Presentation  

MATHE4   Reading  Project-­‐I   Sessional   4   50  

MATHE5   Reading  Project-­‐II   Sessional   4   50  

 
The  detailed  syllabus  is  given  below:    
Paper-­‐I  (MATHC1):  Research  Methodology  (Compulsory  course,  4  credits)    

Scientific  Research  and  Literature  Survey.    

Formulation  of  a  Research  Problem.    
Developing  a  Research  Plan:  Research  objectives,  information  to  be  obtained  and  techniques  to  
be  adopted  for  solving  the  problem.  
Research  Writing  and  Presentation:  Introduction  to  Latex  and  Beamer,  Write-­‐ups  in  latex  and  
beamer/power  point  presentations.  
Mathematical   Software:   Introduction   to   Mathematica/Matlab/Sage   for   solving   numerical   and  
computational  problems.  
Assessment:      
Internal  Assessment:  15  Marks    
Final  written  examination  at  the  end  of  the  course:  35  Marks  
 
References:  
[1]  C.R.  Kothari  &  G.  Garg  (2014):  Research  Methodology:  Methods  and  Techniques,  3rd  Edition,  
New  Age  International    Publishers,  New  Delhi.    
[3]  K.  Prathapan  (2014)  :  Research  Methodology  for  Scientific  Research,  IK  International,  New  
Delhi.  
[4]  L.  Lamport  (1994)  :  LaTeX,  a  Document  Preparation  System,  2nd  Edition,  Addison-­‐Wesley.  
[5]  Nicholas  J.  Higham  (1998)  :  Handbook  of  Writing  for  the  Mathematical  Sciences,  2nd  Edition,  
SIAM.    
[6]  Donald  E.  Knuth,  Tracy  L.  Larrabee,  and  Paul  M.  Roberts  (1989):  Mathematical  Writing,  
Mathematical  Association  of  America.  
[7]  David  F.  Griffiths,  Desmond  J.Higham  (1997):  Learning  LATEX,  SIAM,  Philadelphia.      
[8]  S.R.  Otto  and  J.P.Denier  (2005):  An  Introduction  to  Programming  and  Numerical  Methods  in  
MATLAB,  Springer.  
[9]    C-­‐K.  Cheung,  G.  E.  Keough,  Robert  H.  Gross,  Charles  Landraitis  (2009):  Getting  Started  with  
Mathematica,  Third  Edition,  John  Wiley  and  Sons.  
[12]  SageMath  –  an  open  source  mathematics  software  system:  https://www.sagemath.org  
  
Paper-­‐II  (MATHC2):  Research  and  Publication  Ethics  (Compulsory  course,  2  credits)  
 
I:  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ETHICS    
 
1.  Introduction  to  philosophy:  definition,  nature  and  scope,  concept,  branches    
2.  Ethics:  definition,  moral  philosophy,  nature  of  moral  judgments  and  reactions.    
 
II:  SCIENTIFIC  CONDUCT      
 
1.  Ethics  with  respect  to  science  and  research    
2.  Intellectual  honest  and  research  integrity    
3.  Scientific  misconducts:  falsification,  fabrication,  and  plagiarism  (FFP)  
4.  Redundant  publications:  duplicate  and  overlapping  publications,  salami  slicing    
5.  Selective  reporting  and  misrepresentation  of  data.    
 
III:  PUBLICATION  ETHICS      
 
1.  Publication  ethics:  definition,  introduction  and  importance    
2.  Best  practices/standards  setting  initiatives  and  guidelines:  COPE,  WAME,  etc.    
3.  Conflicts  of  interest    
4.   Publication   misconduct:   definition,   concept,   problems   that   lead   to   unethical   behavior   and  
vice  verse,  types    
5.  Violation  of  publication  ethics,  authorship  and  contributor  ship    
6.  Identification  of  publication  misconduct,  complaints  and  appeals    
7.  Predatory  publishers  and  journals    
 
IV:  OPEN  ACCESS  PUBLISHING  
 
1.  Open  access  publications  and  initiatives    
2.  SHERPA/RoMEO  online  resource  to  check  publisher  copyright  and  self-­‐archiving  policies.    
3.  Software  tool  to  identify  predatory  publications  developed  by  SPPU    
4.  Journal  finder/  journal  suggestion  tools  viz.  JANE,  Elsevier  Journal  Finder,  Springer  Journal  
Suggested,  etc.    
 
V:  PUBLICATION  MISCONDUCT    
 
A.  Group  Discussions    
 
1.  Subject  specific  ethical  issues,  FFP,  authorship    
2.  Conflicts  of  interest    
3.  Complaints  and  appeals:  examples  and  fraud  from  India  and  abroad    
 
B.   Software   tools:   Use   of   plagiarism   software   like   Turnitin,   Urkund   and   other   open   source  
software  tools.    
 
VI:  DATABASES  AND  RESEARCH  METRICS    
 
A.  Databases    
 
1.  Indexing  databases    
2.  Citation  databases:  Web  of  Science,  Scopus,  etc.    
  
 
B.  Research  Metrics    
1.  Impact  Factor  of  journal  as  per  journal  citation  report,  SNIP,  SJR,  IPP,  Cite  Score.    
2.  Metrics:  h-­‐index,  g  index,  i10  index,  altmetrics    
 
Assessment:  

Internal  Assessment:  15  Marks  

Final  written  examination  at  the  end  of  the  course:  35  Marks  
 
References:  
[1].  Alasdair  MacIntyre  (1966):  A  Short  History  of  Ethics,  Macmillan  Publishers.  
[2].  A.  Bird  (2006):  Philosophy  of  Science,  Routledge.  
[3].  P.  Chaddah  (2018):  Ethics  in  Competitive  Research:  Do  not  get  scooped;  do  not  get  
plagiarized,  ISBN:  9789387480865.  
[4].  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  National  Academy  of  Engineering  (US)  and  Institute  of  
Medicine  (US)  Committee  on  Science,  Engineering,  and  Public  Policy  (2009):  On  Being  a  
Scientist:  A  Guide  to  Responsible  Conduct  in  Research,  Third  Edition,  National  Academies  Press.  
[5].  Indian  National  Science  Academy  (INSA)  (2019):  Ethics  in  Science  Education,  Research  and  
Governance,  ISBN  :  978-­‐81-­‐939482-­‐1-­‐7.  https://www.insaindia.res.in/pdf/Ethics_Book.pdf  
[6].  P.  Oliver  (2003):  The  Student's  Guide  to  Research  Ethics,  Open  University  Press.  
[7].  D.B.  Resnik  (2011):  What  is  Ethics  in  Research  and  Why  is  it  Important?  National  Institute  of  
Environmental  Health  Sciences,  1-­‐10.  
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm

 
 
Paper-­‐III  (MATHC3):    Literature  Review  and  Presentation  

The  research  topic  on  which  surveys  are  to  be  carried  out  depends  on  the  supervisor.  

Assessment:  

A  three-­‐member  committee  (Supervisor,  one  member  of  the  Departmental  PhD  Committee  and  
one   faculty   member   of   the   Department   related   to   the   subject)   should   be   present   in   one-­‐hour  
presentation  followed  by  viva-­‐voce.    

Supervisor  in  consultation  with  the  members  of  the  committee  will  be  submitting  the  marks.      

Paper  IV  &  V  (MATHE4  &  MATHE5):  Reading  Projects  (4  credits  each)    

Two  (02)  Reading  Projects  are  to  be  opted  for  with  the  supervisors  of  choice,  after  discussing  
with  the  departmental  PhD  committee.    

Assessment:  

The  course  content  and  assessment  process  is  to  be  solely  decided  by  the  supervisors.