CSIR NET December 2026 Notification: Exam on 19, 22 and 27 December, Eligibility, Age Limit and Fee

The National Testing Agency (NTA) opened the form for the Joint CSIR-UGC NET December 2026 on 7 October 2026. The test decides who gets the CSIR Junior Research Fellowship, who is eligible for appointment as Assistant Professor in the sciences, and who can join a PhD on the score. It is a computer based test in five subjects, held on 19, 22 and 27 December 2026 in two shifts a day. The form closed on 9 November and the correction window on 12 November, so the cycle has now reached its last stretch before the exam.

CSIR NET December 2026: important dates

The dates NTA gives are tentative, as in every cycle. NTA’s exam calendar had shown 20 and 21 December; the dates of this cycle’s notice are 19, 22 and 27 December, and for your own subject go by the city slip and the admit card. Media reports put the number of forms at about 2.43 lakh by the last day.

The five subjects

• Chemical Sciences
• Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean and Planetary Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Mathematical Sciences
• Physical Sciences

Each candidate sits one subject, and the syllabus of each is on the CSIR NET website. Read the syllabus of your subject again before the exam rather than an old guidebook: the questions follow the syllabus NTA publishes.

Top universities through UGC NETBy NIRF 2025 rank

All 57

NAAC A++NIRF #2 (2025)Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityNew Delhi, DelhiAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1969View detailsNAAC A++NIRF #4 (2025)Jamia Millia IslamiaNew Delhi, DelhiAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1920 · 239 acresView detailsNAAC A++NIRF #5 (2025)University of DelhiNew Delhi, DelhiAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, JEE MainEst. 1922View detailsNAAC ANIRF #6 (2025)Banaras Hindu UniversityVaranasi, Uttar PradeshAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1916 · 1300 acresView detailsNAAC A+NIRF #10 (2025)Aligarh Muslim UniversityAligarh, Uttar PradeshAdmission: CUET UG, NET/JRF, NEET UGEst. 1920View detailsNAAC A+NIRF #18 (2025)University of HyderabadHyderabad, TelanganaAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1974 · 2000 acresView detailsNAAC A++NIRF #37 (2025)Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar UniversityLucknow, Uttar PradeshAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1996View detailsNAAC A+NIRF #77 (2025)Central University of PunjabBathinda, PunjabAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 2009 · 500 acresView detailsNAAC A+NIRF #79 (2025)Tezpur UniversityTezpur, AssamAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 1994 · 262 acresView detailsNAAC ANIRF #82 (2025)Mizoram UniversityAizawl, MizoramAdmission: CUET UG, CUET PG, NET/JRFEst. 2000View details

Who can apply

• An M.Sc. or an equivalent degree, an integrated BS-MS, or a four-year BS, B.E., B.Tech., B.Pharm. or MBBS, with at least 55% marks for General and General-EWS candidates and 50% for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and third gender candidates.
• Students in the final year of these degrees can apply on the result awaited basis, and must complete the degree with the required marks within the time the bulletin allows.
• A four-year bachelor’s degree makes a candidate eligible for JRF and PhD admission, not for Assistant Professor. A bachelor’s degree holder who qualifies for JRF gets the fellowship only after joining a PhD or integrated PhD programme within the validity period.

Age limit

For the JRF a candidate must not be more than 30 years old as on 1 December 2026. OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and third gender candidates and women get up to 5 years of relaxation, and research experience and service in the armed forces are counted too, but the total relaxation stays within 5 years. There is no upper age limit for Assistant Professor or for the PhD category.

Application fee

The paper

Each subject has one paper of 3 hours, set in three parts that together carry 200 marks.

• Part A is common to every subject and tests general aptitude: logical reasoning, graphs, numerical ability and puzzles.
• Part B has the subject’s multiple-choice questions on the core syllabus.
• Part C has the higher-value questions that test how well a candidate can apply the concepts.

Wrong answers carry negative marks, at the rate the bulletin fixes for each subject and part, so guessing costs. Questions are in English and Hindi.

Registration rules that applied this time

The December 2026 form came with stricter checks. Login was through Meri Pehchaan, the single sign-on of the Government. The portal took a live photograph through a webcam or a phone before the form could go on, in addition to a recent photograph of 10 to 200 KB with about 80% of the face visible on a light background, and a signature of 10 to 50 KB. Only one application was allowed per candidate. Keep a few prints of the same photograph: the admit card and the attendance sheet need it on the exam day.

What CSIR NET means at Central Universities

The science departments of the Central Universities take CSIR NET JRF holders into their PhD programmes, and a JRF who joins one draws the fellowship from CSIR for the years the award letter covers. Many of these universities also fill PhD seats from the NET category through their own interviews. The CSIR NET page of this site keeps every step of the exam together and lists the M.Sc. programmes of Central Universities that lead to it.

What comes next

1. Exam city slip: the city and the date, issued some days before the exam. It is not an admit card.
2. Admit card: with the centre, the shift and the reporting time.
3. 19, 22 and 27 December: the exam.
4. After the exam: the provisional answer key and the recorded responses, a short paid window to challenge the key, and the result.

The earlier updates of this cycle are here: how to apply, the fee and the last date, the correction window and the exam pattern explained.