Fresh details have emerged about the Government’s new initiative — One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) — which clarify that students and staff at all public institutes will be able to access all papers in the journals participating in ONOS irrespective of their discipline.

These include titles owned by major publishers like Springer-Nature, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis.

At a press conference last week, officials at office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA), the Department of Science & Technology, and the Department of Higher Education revealed that centres of science, social science, humanities, and medical education will all be eligible and won’t have to pay any other fees.

Negotiations are underway to bring more journals into the fold. Those journals that aren’t part of ONOS can still sell access separately within the country.

The ONOS scheme also aligns with the country’s vision of making India Atmanirbhar and Viksitbharat@2047.

Put simply, ONOS will replace the several existing consortia that provide access to subscription-based journals. ONOS would be a single window through which all government funded institutions will be able to access more than 13,000 journals published by 30 major international publishers.

Democratising access to high-quality scholarly research across the nation, ONOS will open a goldmine of knowledge available in top quality scholarly journals to nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, researchers and scientists of all disciplines, including those in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, thereby encouraging core as well as interdisciplinary research in the country.

It will cover all higher education institutions managed by both central and state governments, as well as Research & Development (R&D) institutions under the central government. 

A budget allocation of about ₹6,000 crore has been sanctioned for a three-year period covering 2025, 2026, and 2027 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.

The scheme will be administered through a user-friendly, fully digital process, ensuring seamless access to scholarly materials. The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC), will coordinate the national subscription, facilitating access to nearly 13,000 e-journals from 30 major international publishers. 

The ONOS scheme, which got Cabinet approval in late November, is expected to be implemented in three phases. Under the first phase, Government would merge all the consortia and work to facilitate journal access in all public institutes.

In the second phase, ONOS will be expanded to include private institutions. In the final III phase, government would create universal access to all citizens through designated access points in public libraries.

In a pilot, ONOS would set aside ₹ 150 crore —out of ₹2,000 crore per annum allocated to the scheme —to pay for the Article Processing Charges (APC). The government has also negotiated APC discounts for researchers to publish in certain OA journals.

The officials said they are aware of transformative OA models around the world and that ONOS would encompass them as it progressed. As of now, they said, 60-70 per cent of journals in ONOS are subscription-based. They added that around half a decade ago, 75 per cent of papers published by Indian scientists were in subscription-based journals, and that this figure has dropped to 65% today.

ONOS is being seen as a timely step towards establishing India in the global research ecosystem by bringing ease of doing research to the doorstep of all students, faculty and researchers in the government institutions.

The Department of Higher Education (DHE) will have a unified portal “One Nation One Subscription” through which the institutions will be able to access the journals. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) will periodically review the usage of ONOS and publication work of Indian authors of these institutions. The DHE and other Ministries having HEIs and R&D Institutions under their management shall be proactively conducting Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns among students, faculty and researchers of these institutions about availability and method of access to One Nation One Subscription, resulting in improved usage of the facility across the country. 

Benefits for Indian Student Community

Enhanced Research Opportunities: By providing unrestricted access to a vast repository of scholarly articles, ONOS empowers researchers, students, and faculty members to engage in cutting-edge research without the barriers of subscription costs. This initiative is expected to foster a culture of innovation and academic excellence across the country.

Equitable Access: The scheme ensures that individuals in tier 2 and tier 3 cities have the same access to scholarly resources as those in metropolitan areas, bridging the knowledge gap and promoting inclusive education.

Cost Efficiency: By consolidating subscriptions at a national level, the government can negotiate better terms with publishers, leading to significant cost savings compared to individual institutional subscriptions.

Support for Interdisciplinary Studies: 

With access to a wide range of journals across various disciplines, students and researchers can pursue interdisciplinary studies more effectively, leading to holistic educational development.

Alignment with National Educational Goals: The ONOS initiative aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasizes the importance of research and development in achieving educational excellence and national development. 

Implementation Timeline

The ONOS scheme is set to commence on January 1, 2025, and will run through December 31, 2027. During this period, over 6,300 government higher education institutions and central government R&D institutions will have access to the subscribed e-journals. The digital platform facilitating this access will be developed and managed by INFLIBNET, ensuring a seamless user experience for all beneficiaries.