CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026 OUT: Check Age Limit & Minimum Qualification for JRF/LS

CSIR NET 2026 December session last date to apply is November 5, 2026. Authority prescribes CSIR UGC NET Eligibility Criteria 2026 along with notification in terms of age limit, educational qualification and nationality. CSIR JRF Age Limit is 30 years. Read below for more details on NTA CSIR NET Eligibility for JRF and LS.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026 is most important aspect of CSIR UGC NET 2026 exam which is conducted by NTA two times a year. notification PDF released at csirnet.nta.nic.in for December session. last date to apply for December session is November 5 (up to 11:50 PM). application correction window will open from November 10 to 12. eligibility criteria released for December session in information bulletin. CSIR JRF age limit is 30 years. There is no upper age limit for Lectureship. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) prescribes CSIR NET eligibility in terms of age limit, educational qualification and nationality. Before filling out application form for CSIR UGC NET exam, it is important for candidates to check CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria.

CSIR NET December exam will be conducted on 19, 22 and 27 December 2026. exam is conducted for five papers- Mathematical Science, Life Science, Chemical Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026

Candidates must meet CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026 to appear for exam. It is minimum criteria that candidates must fulfil before appearing for exam. Candidates' CSIR NET Application Form is rejected if they do not meet eligibility criteria. CSIR NET age limit, educational qualification, number of attempts, etc. are important criteria for CSIR NET eligibility.

CSIR NET Exam Pattern

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026: Exam Overview

Highlights for CSIR NET 2026 exam are mentioned in table below:

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026: Nationality

Only candidates who are Indian citizens are eligible to apply for exam.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026: Minimum Educational Qualification

• Candidates need to possess either of below-mentioned qualifications with at least 55 per cent marks (for General and OBC) or 50 per cent marks (for Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Persons with Disability (PwD) candidates).

• Candidates enrolled for MSc or having completed MSc or equivalent degree/Integrated BS-MS/BS-4 years/BE/BTech/ BPharma/ MBBS as of last date of CSIR NET Application Form are also eligible to apply under Result Awaited (RA) category. However, condition for RA category candidates is such that they should complete their qualifying degree with required percentage of marks within validity period of two years from date of declaration of Joint CSIR UGC NET result failing which they shall be treated as disqualified.
• Candidates holding a BSc (Hons) or equivalent degree or candidates enrolled in an integrated MS-PhD program with at least 55 per cent marks (50 per cent for SC/ST/PwD candidates) are also eligible to apply for exam. However, candidates holding an undergraduate degree will be eligible for a CSIR fellowship only after getting registered for PhD/Integrated PhD course within validity period of two years, informs official website.
• Candidates possessing only a Bachelor’s degree are eligible to apply for a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) only and not for Lectureship (LS)/Assistant Professor. For instance, BE/BS/BTech/BPharma/MBBS final year/result awaited candidates are eligible to apply for JRF only.
• Candidates who possess a PhD degree and who have passed their master’s before September 19, 1991, with at least 50 per cent marks are eligible to apply for lectureship only.

CSIR NET Life Science Eligibility

To be eligible for CSIR NET Life Science exam, candidates must fulfil CSIR NET Life Science Eligibility which is mentioned below:

• Educational Qualification: Candidates must have a Master of Science (M.Sc.) or equivalent degree in Life Sciences, with a minimum of 55% marks (50% for SC/ST/OBC candidates) or a B.Tech degree in Biotechnology, with a minimum of 55% marks (50% for SC/ST/OBC candidates)
• Nationality: Candidates must be Indian nationals
• Age limit: Upper age limit for CSIR NET exam is 30 years. However, there is an age relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates and 3 years for women candidates

CSIR NET Eligibility for OBC

Candidates can refer to table for CSIR NET Eligibility for OBC.

Note: There is also an age relaxation of 5 years for female candidates and candidates with disabilities.

CSIR NET Eligibility for Female

Candidates can refer to table for CSIR NET Eligibility for OBC.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026: Subject-wise Educational Qualification

table below covers subject-wise CSIR NET 2026 Qualification.

CSIR NET Age Limit 2026

CSIR NET age limit criteria differ for JRF and Lecturership. Have a look:

CSIR JRF Age Limit

Candidates should be a maximum of 30 years. That is not more than 30 years as on 1st day of month in which examination is concluded i.e. July 2026 to be eligible to apply for CSIR NET JRF.

Assistant Professor: There is no upper age limit in applying for Joint CSIR UGC NET for Assistant Professor.

Admission to PhD: There is no upper age limit in applying for Joint CSIR-UGC NET for Admission to PhD.

CSIR NET 2026: Relaxation in Upper Age Limit for JRF NET

upper age limit is relaxed for reserved category candidates who want to apply for CSIR NET JRF. Have a look:

CSIR NET Age Limit for Lectureship

There is no upper age limit for candidates applying for CSIR NET lectureship.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026: Relaxation for Third Gender Category

Candidates belonging to Third gender category are eligible to draw same relaxation in fee, age and educational qualification for CSIR NET as are available to SC/ ST categories. subject-wise qualifying CSIR NET Cut-off for Third gender category will be lowest among those for SC/ ST/ PwD/ OBC–NCL/ General-EWS categories.

CSIR NET Reservation Criteria 2026

CSIR follows stipulated guidelines regarding marks relaxation for different categories. Candidates can check table below for CSIR NET Reservation Criteria 2026.

CSIR NET Eligibility Criteria 2026 - Important Points

• If a candidate applies for a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and fulfils eligibility criteria for lectureship, s/he is considered for both
• If a candidate is found over-age for JRF, s/he is automatically considered for lectureship/ assistant professorship only
• Candidates who have completed pursuing an MSc or are awaiting final result of their MSc are eligible for lectureship subject to fulfilling laid down CSIR NET eligibility criteria
• CSIR NET Admit Card will not be issued to candidates who do not fulfil eligibility criteria.

In event of any ineligibility being detected by CSIR / UGC / NTA at any stage, their candidature will be cancelled and they shall be liable for legal action. NTA does not verify information provided by candidates during online registration and hence candidature will be purely provisional subject to fulfillment of eligibility criteria.

Examinations will be conducted in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode. Paper will be in bilingual i.e. Hindi and English. Candidates are required to answer in medium as per option exercised in Application Form. In case of any ambiguity between Hindi and English version due to translation, English version would be treated as final.

Read More:

CSIR NET Syllabus