NEW DELHI, October 8 — The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday announced the official timeline and operationalized online registration portals for the Joint CSIR-UGC NET December 2026 examination on behalf of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on `csirnet.nta.ac.in`.
The competitive screening mechanism governs eligibility for the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRF), appointments to Assistant Professor positions in science faculties, and enrollment into Ph.D. programs across Indian higher learning and CSIR research laboratories. Candidates possessing an M.Sc., Integrated BS-MS, or equivalent qualification in natural and physical sciences can complete digital submissions and remit examination fees through November 2, 2026, with the nationwide Computer-Based Test (CBT) scheduled across multiple shifts between December 26 and December 28, 2026.
The examination evaluates scientific acumen across five dedicated disciplines: Chemical Sciences, Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences. Administered over a 180-minute duration, the single test paper comprises Part-A (General Aptitude and Quantitative Reasoning), Part-B (Core Subject Foundations), and Part-C (Higher-Order Analytical Synthesis and Research Problems), evaluated under discipline-specific negative marking criteria.
The statutory architecture of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), sovereign doctoral fellowship distributions, and national STEM R&D policies represent foundational subjects across scientific recruitment and UGC-NET Paper-I studies. Candidates should remember that CSIR was established on September 26, 1942, as an autonomous society under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), with the Prime Minister of India serving as its ex-officio President and the Union Science Minister as Vice-President.