It has been recognized globally that WP platforms offer a secure and ethical way to disseminate pre-publication stage work with faculty and students at large. Most top Universities have a long tradition of hosting working papers of their faculty and students. For example, the London School of Economics started its WP Series way back in the 1990s. Their digital archive has been active since 2000. https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/Working-Papers

There are several other advantages of using working papers, including

• To get early feedback on your work from academic peers
• To communicate our findings to policymakers, practitioners, any relevant audience in time
• To make results of publicly funded research publicly available and not behind paywalls or need to article processing charges
• To lay claim to study results, avoiding the possibility of being pipped to the post by another researcher

Other Universities and international organizations that routinely publish WP for sharing emerging work include Purdue University, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Nuffield College (Oxford), University of Melbourne, The World Bank, the United Nations, etc.

Increasingly, Indian higher education institutions have recognized the benefits of sharing emerging work in terms of academic visibility and impact. The following are currently hosting similar initiatives.

Azim Premji University: https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/publications/working-paper-series
IIT Bombay: https://www.cps.iitb.ac.in/research/wps/
IIT Kharagpur: https://som.iitkgp.ac.in/working.php
IIT Madras (Centre for Memory Studies)
Ashoka University (Trivedi Centre for Political Data)

FLAME University supports several ongoing projects that its faculty have undertaken. The WP is an effective platform to share findings from ongoing and completed research projects that are funded/partially supported by the University. To this end, the WP Series will accept a range of formats including evidence-based commentary pieces, Research Notes, scientific and technical reports and ethically made photo-stories. Finally, from the perspective of branding, the WP offers a glimpse of the University's commitment to research endeavours and the multidisciplinary nature of liberal education.

1. If you are working on a research topic which is time sensitive, and you would want to share your novel idea and findings, FWPS can provide you platform to showcase your results.
2. Early feedback before the journal peer-review process can reduce the chances of desk rejects and improve the overall quality of your paper.
3. Working paper is used to communicate your findings to policymakers, practitioners, and any relevant audience in time.

• Yes, working paper series can be cited. This will enhance visibility of your research. Please see below and example of such a citation

In-text citation:
(Malter, 2014).
Reference list:
Malter, D. (2014). Eclipsed and confounded identities: when high-status affiliations impede organizational growth. Harvard Business School Strategy Unit Working Paper No. 15-019. Available at https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=48092 

FWPS platform can benefit the researchers and the university simultaneously as this can be useful for faculty appraisal and can count towards NAAC once we obtain ISBN number for the series. FLAME University can showcase the research strength and cutting-edge research being carried out FLAME.

1. It is common for Economics, Public Policy, Political Science/Studies,  Business Management,  and allied domains to publish their research in the working paper format.
2. Student projects involving primary data collection.
3. Technical Reports and novel methodologies.
4. Student-led scholarship work that involves secondary data research.
5. Any unpublished work that is internally funded.  

Does Urban Heat Island Effect Impact Groundwater Levels? A Case Study of Pune District

Author: Mehr Kalra, Prasad Pathak, Siddhartha Benninger

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Abstract: In the last sixty years we have seen a massive spike in the process of urbanisation This spike has been brought about by a -fold increase in global population from million in to billion in The process of urbanisation has ss of urbanisation has spiked significantly over the last sixty years, experiencing almost a 5-fold increase in the global urban population from 750 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018. While urbanisation has brought about beneficial impacts in terms of infrastructure development, it has also been accompanied with negative consequences for urban residents in particular. As a consequence of the high presence of built infrastructure and sealed surfaces within cities, urban areas often experience elevated temperatures. This phenomenon is particularly evident during the night time and is termed as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The UHI effect is significantly influenced by location-specific factors, among which land-use change and presence of vegetation have been studied by numerous scholars. However, the impact of the UHI effect of hydrological factors such as groundwater levels is substantially under-researched a topic. In order to bridge this existing gap in literature, the current study aims to investigate the relationship of Land Surface Temperature (LST) with groundwater levels (pre- and post-monsoon) for Pune district. The findings from the study suggest a positive correlation between SUHII and groundwater levels, thereby implying that an increase in land surface temperature is accompanied by groundwater falling further below the surface level. .....Read More

Towards a Regulatory Framework for Higher Education Institutions

Author: Yugank Goyal, Karishma K. Shah

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Abstract: Today research on higher education regulation is dominated by higher education scholars and not those working on the regulations itself This leads to a limited regulatory understanding of higher education sector As private universities mushroom across developing countries an adequate uate understanding of how regulatory frameworks should be developed is important. By drawing ideas from pertinent taxonomy in regulatory studies (Gilad 2010) we evolve an approach through which higher education regulation can be benchmarked, examined and evaluated. To illustrate the design principles of the proposed framework, we use India’s higher education sector as the case study. .....Read More

Population Ageing in India: Assessing Inter-State Variations

Author: Sunil Rajpal, Shreya Ronanki

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Abstract: With the rapid decline in fertility and improving life expectancy at all ages in India ageing populations are projected to increase substantially in the future Given India s rapidly growing population this translates into a large number of elderly individuals duals in terms of absolute numbers. Further, due to substantial variations in economic growth, income and wealth distribution, health infrastructure as well as the pace of the demographic transition across Indian states, understanding the differentials in population ageing across states becomes imperative for targeted resource allocation from a policy perspective. This study used data obtained from secondary sources such as the Census of India, Sample Registration System, and the United Nations World Population Prospects (2015 Revision) to provide a comprehensive overview of the trends and variations in population ageing across Indian states over the years using a range of indicators. The findings revealed a relatively higher proportion of elderly populations in southern states with Kerala reporting the highest proportion of elderly population, old age dependency, median age as well as life expectancy (at birth and old age). his is followed by other southern states and Punjab, Maharashtra and Odisha. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh reported the biggest lags in experiencing bulging elderly populations. Findings also indicated an increase in the range (highest minus lowest) of elderly share in the total population implying significant differences in the timings at which states will experience a bulge in their old age populations. .....Read More