Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
- There is a dark side to academic research, especially in India, and at its centre is the phenomenon of predatory journals.
- But in truth, as long as you pay, you can get anything published.
- In look and feel thus, they are exactly like any reputed journal.
- They claim to be indexed in the most influential databases, say they possess editorial boards that comprise top scientists and researchers, and claim to have a rigorous peer-review structure.
- But a large section of researchers and scientists across the world are at the receiving end of nothing short of an academic publishing scam.
Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
- There is a dark side to academic research, especially in India, and at its centre is the phenomenon of predatory journals.
- But in truth, as long as you pay, you can get anything published.
- In look and feel thus, they are exactly like any reputed journal.
- They claim to be indexed in the most influential databases, say they possess editorial boards that comprise top scientists and researchers, and claim to have a rigorous peer-review structure.
- But a large section of researchers and scientists across the world are at the receiving end of nothing short of an academic publishing scam.
Entered answer:
Solution
We need to find which sentence doesn't fit with the other four to form a coherent paragraph. From passage: "There is a dark side to academic research, especially in India, and at its centre is the phenomenon of predatory journals."
The key here is scope consistency. Sentence 1 sets up the topic -> predatory journals specifically in India. Nowwe need to see which sentences follow this India-focused discussion.
Logical flow process:
- Sentence 1 -> introduces problem (predatory journals in India)
- Sentence 4 -> describes what these journals claim to be
- Sentence 3 -> explains how they look legitimate
- Sentence 2 -> reveals the harsh reality (pay to publish)
This creates a perfect flow: problem introduction -> false claims -> fake appearance -> ugly truth
The elimination process:
π’ Sentences 1, 2, 3, 4 -> All stay focused on the India-specific context and flow logically from introduction to revelation
π΄ Sentence 5 -> scope-error -> shifts from "especially in India" to "across the world" - this breaks the geographical focus and doesn't connect smoothly with the India-specific discussion
The passage maintains tight focus on India's predatory journal problem, but sentence 5 suddenly jumps to a global perspective without any transition, making it the odd one out.
Answer: 5