On Monday, November 25, the Union Cabinet approved a budget allocation of ₹6,000 crore for the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ (ONOS) initiative. This program is designed to enhance access to academic resources for India’s higher education institutions (HEIs).
ONOS aims to centralize journal subscriptions for approximately 6,300 government-run institutions, offering equitable access to a repository of 13,000 scholarly journals through a unified platform.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: PTI)
Overview of the Current System, Cabinet Approval, and Initiative Roadmap
How do higher education institutions (HEIs) currently access journals?
Currently, higher education institutions (HEIs) have access to journals through 10 different library consortia, each overseen by various ministries. A library consortium is a group of two or more libraries that collaborate to meet shared needs, typically for resource sharing. For example, the INFLIBNET Centre in Gandhinagar, an Inter-University Centre under the University Grants Commission (UGC) within the Ministry of Education (India), manages the UGC-Infonet Digital Library Consortium, which offers access to a selection of scholarly electronic journals and databases across various disciplines.
In addition to consortium access, HEIs also subscribe to several journals on an individual basis. Government estimates suggest that around 2,500 HEIs can access approximately 8,100 journals through these networks and individual subscriptions.
What does the ONOS framework provide?
The ONOS initiative aims to streamline journal access for all government higher education institutions (HEIs) by integrating the previously disjointed approach. Starting January 1, 2025, ONOS will provide both state and central government HEIs with access to thousands of journals through a single platform.
This platform will feature 13,000 journals from 30 international publishers, including Elsevier Science Direct (including The Lancet), Springer Nature, Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, Sage Publishing, the American Chemical Society, and the American Mathematical Society, among others. Institutions will only need to register on the platform to gain access. INFLIBNET has been designated as the implementing agency for this project. The central government has negotiated a unified subscription fee for each of the 30 publishers and allocated Rs 6,000 crore for the initiative over the three calendar years—2025, 2026, and 2027.
“If HEIs still want access to journals outside the 13,000 available on the common platform, they can subscribe to them individually,” an officer told The Indian Express.
What is the purpose of ONOS?
The ONOS scheme is supported by four key reasons.
Firstly, it aims to provide access to top-tier scholarly journals for approximately 55 lakh to nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, and researchers across around 6,300 government universities, colleges, research institutions, and Institutions of National Importance (INIs), including those in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Secondly, it seeks to eliminate the redundancy of journal subscriptions across various library consortia and individual higher education institutions, thereby reducing unnecessary spending on duplicate resources.
Third, a unified subscription for all central and state government higher education institutions (HEIs) would enhance bargaining power in negotiations with publishers. For instance, a source within the central government mentioned that, “We have been meeting with representatives of different publishers over the last two years, and during this time, we have worked to negotiate the best price. As a result, the initial cost of Rs 4,000 crore per year for 13,000 journals has been reduced to Rs 1,800 crore.”
Fourth, the Centre will gain an understanding of how frequently journals are being accessed and downloaded within the government higher education ecosystem, as stated by the official. “This will not only help in long-term planning but also allow us to encourage inactive institutions to fully utilise the platform and promote its benefits among their teachers, students, and researchers,” the officer said.
When was ONOS first conceptualized?
The initiative stems from the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which highlighted research as a fundamental pillar for attaining excellence in education and fostering national development. “If India is to become a leader in these disparate areas, and truly achieve the potential of its vast talent pool to again become a leading knowledge society in the coming years and decades, the nation will require a significant expansion of its research capabilities and output across disciplines,” the NEP 2020 states. The policy strongly advocated for the creation of a National Research Foundation (NRF) to initiate, fund, support, and advance research and development (R&D), while cultivating a culture of innovation throughout India’s higher education system.
In 2022, the central government made a significant move toward this objective by establishing a core committee of secretaries, led by the Principal Scientific Advisor. This committee subsequently formed a cost negotiation panel to engage in thorough negotiations with journal publishers for the ONOS initiative. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) was set up at the beginning of this year.
What comes next?
The next step involves the central government negotiating Article Processing Charges (APCs) with journal publishers. APCs, or publication fees, are payments required from authors to publish in certain journals. Scientific journals generate revenue to cover costs related to publishing, editing, operations, peer review, and other functions. Open-access journals, in particular, charge a specific fee for article processing known as the APC.
Government estimates indicate that in 2021, authors in India paid approximately ₹380 crore to journal publishers as APCs. Similar to how the government established a single subscription rate for all government-run higher education institutions (HEIs), it now aims to implement the same strategy for APCs. The Centre believes this approach will help lower overall costs. To facilitate this, expert groups from relevant ministries will be formed to negotiate APCs with journals for research papers.
Regarding whether ONOS will include private HEIs, the government has yet to make a decision, according to sources.
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