• General/Unreserved/General-EWS candidates who have secured at least 55% marks (without rounding off) in Master’s Degree or equivalent examination from recognized universities/institutions are eligible for appearing in this examination. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) belonging to Non-Creamy Layer/Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Persons with Disability (PwD/PwBD)/Third gender category candidates who have secured at least 50% marks (without rounding off) in Master’s degree or equivalent examination are eligible for this Test.
• Candidates who are pursuing their Master’s degree or equivalent course or candidates who have appeared for their qualifying Master’s degree (final year) examination and whose result is still awaited, or candidates whose qualifying examinations have been delayed may also apply for this test. However, such candidates will be admitted provisionally and shall be considered eligible for Joint CSIR-UGC NET, only after they have passed their Master’s Degree or equivalent examination with at least 55% marks (50% marks in case of OBC-NCL/SC/ST/PwD/PwBD/Third gender category candidates). Such candidates must complete their Master’s degree or equivalent examination within two years from the date of Joint CSIR-UGC NET result with required percentage of marks, failing which they shall be treated as disqualified.
  However, those candidates who qualify for ‘Admission to Ph.D. Only’ must complete their Master’s degree or equivalent examination within one year from the date of Joint CSIR-UGC NET result with required percentage of marks, failing which they shall be treated as disqualified.
• Candidates belonging to the Third gender category are eligible to draw the same relaxation in fee, age and Eligibility Criteria for Joint CSIR-UGC NET as are available to SC/ST/PwD/PwBD categories. The subject-wise qualifying cut-offs for this category would be the lowest among those for SC/ST/PwD/PwBD/OBC–NCL/General-EWS categories in the corresponding subject.
• The Ph.D. degree holders whose Master’s level examination have been completed by 19 September 1991 (irrespective of date of declaration of result) shall be eligible for a relaxation of 5% in aggregate marks (i.e. from 55% to 50%) for appearing in Joint CSIR-UGC NET.
• Candidates are neither required to send any certificates/documents in support of their eligibility nor submit printout of their Application Form or Confirmation Page to NTA. However, the candidates, in their own interest, must ensure their eligibility for appearing in the examination. In the event of any ineligibility being detected by the CSIR/UGC/NTA at any stage, their candidature will be cancelled, and they shall be liable for legal action. NTA does not verify the information provided by the candidates during online registration and hence candidature will be purely provisional subject to the fulfillment of eligibility criteria.
• Candidates holding a foreign qualification are advised, in their own interest, to obtain equivalence of their qualification from the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Candidates with Post-Graduate diploma awarded by an Indian Institute should in their own interest, ascertain the equivalence of their diploma with Master's degree of recognized Indian Universities from Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
• The candidates having passed a 4-year/8-semester bachelor’s degree programme should have a minimum of 75% marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade on a point scale wherever the grading system is followed. A relaxation of 5% marks or its equivalent grade may be allowed for those belonging to SC/ST/OBC (non-creamy layer)/Differently-Abled, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and other categories of candidates as per the decision of the Commission from time to time (refer to University Grants Commission.
  (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022 https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/0909572_Minimum-Standards-and-Procedure-forAward-of-PhD Degree.pdf )
  The candidates qualifying in the Joint CSIR-UGC NET exam, based on a four-year undergraduate degree, will be eligible for the award of the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and for admission to the Ph.D. The candidates qualifying in the Joint CSIRUGC NET, based on a four-year undergraduate degree, will not be eligible for appointment as Assistant Professor.
• The candidates who are pursuing Four Year/8 Semester Bachelor’s Degree Programme and are in their last semester/year may also apply for the test. However, such candidates will be admitted provisionally and shall be considered eligible for the award of JRF/admission to Ph.D. only after fulfilling the requirements contained in the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022 within two years (if qualified for award of JRF)/within one year (if qualified for admission to Ph.D. only) from the date of declaration of the Joint CSIR-UGC NET result, failing which they shall be treated as disqualified.
• The candidates with a Four-Year Bachelor’s Degree Programme are allowed to appear in a subject (the List of Subjects and their Codes for Joint CSIR-UGC NET June-2026 are given at (Annexure-I ) in which they want to pursue a Ph.D. irrespective of the discipline in which they have obtained the four-year bachelor’s degree.

Mode of Examinations:
The Examinations will be conducted in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode.

Pattern of Question Papers:
The Test will consist of three parts. All the parts will consist of objective type, multiple choice questions. There will be no break between papers. The subject-wise scheme of examination is as per details below: Chemical Sciences: The candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15, 35 and 25 questions from Part-A, Part-B and Part-C respectively. If more than required number of questions are answered, only first 15, 35 and 25 questions in Part A, Part B and Part C respectively will be taken up for evaluation. Below each question in Part A, Part B and Part C, four alternatives or responses are given. Only one of these alternatives is the "correct" option to the question. The candidate has to find, for each question, the correct or the best answer.

Earth Sciences: The candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15, 35 and 25 questions from Part-A, Part-B and Part-C respectively. If more than required number of questions are answered, only first 15, 35 and 25 questions in Part A, Part B and Part C respectively will be taken up for evaluation. Below each question in Part A, Part B and Part C, four alternatives or responses are given. Only one of these alternatives is the "correct" option to the question. The candidate has to find, for each question, the correct or the best answer.

Life Sciences: The candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15, 35 and 25questions from Part-A, Part-B and Part-C respectively. If more than required number of questions are answered, only first 15, 35 and 25 questions in Part A, Part B and Part C respectively will be taken up for evaluation. Below each question in Part A, Part B and Part C, four alternatives or responses are given. Only one of these alternatives is the "correct" option to the question. The candidate has to find, for each question, the correct or the best answer.

Mathematical Sciences: The candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15, 25 and 20 questions from Part-A, Part-B and Part-C respectively. If more than required number of questions are answered, only first 15, 25 and 20 questions in Part A, Part B and Part C respectively will be taken up for evaluation. Below each question in Part A, Part B, four alternatives or responses are given. Only one of these alternatives is the "correct" option to the question. The candidate has to find, for each question, the correct or the best answer. In Part C each question may have "ONE" or "MORE" correct options. Credit in a question shall be given only on identification of "ALL" the correct options in Part C.

Physical Sciences: The candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15, 20 and 20 questions from Part-A, Part-B and Part-C respectively. If more than required number of questions are answered, only first 15, 20 and 20 questions in Part A, Part B and Part C respectively will be taken up for evaluation. Below each question in Part A, Part B and Part C, four alternatives or responses are given. Only one of these alternatives is the "correct" option to the question. The candidate has to find, for each question, the correct or the best answer.

- Part 'A' shall be common to all subjects. This part shall contain questions pertaining to General Aptitude with emphasis on logical reasoning, graphical analysis, analytical and numerical ability, quantitative comparison, series formation, puzzles etc.
- Part 'B' shall contain subject-related conventional Multiple-Choice questions (MCQs), generally covering the topics given in the syllabus.
- Part 'C' shall contain higher order questions that may test the candidate's knowledge of scientific concepts and/or application of the scientific concepts. The questions shall be of analytical nature where a candidate is expected to apply scientific knowledge to arrive at the solution to the given scientific problem.

Medium of Examination:
The Paper will be in bilingual i.e. Hindi and English. Candidates are required to answer in the medium as per option exercised in the Application Form. In case of any ambiguity between Hindi and English version due to translation, English version would be treated as final.

Subjects of the Test:
The Test will be held in the subjects mentioned below: Syllabus of the Test:
Syllabus & Scheme of Examination of the MCQ Paper may be seen at CSIR HRDG website: www.csirhrdg.res.in .

The score card will be published with total percentile score and marks.