Introduction 

In India, the level of higher education in the academic sense, leaves much to be desired. This is borne out of the fact that in the top hundred or two hundred universities, barely a few universities find a place. Obviously, there are so many factors for this sordid state of affairs and there is no denying the fact that a lot of brainstorming and hard work needs to be done to ameliorate the prevailing situation. The standard of research projects and dissertations in the postgraduate and doctoral levels is by and large, not world-class. Leaving aside other factors, the most significant cause for this decline in standards is the paucity of good and up-to-date reading material. Indian universities, either due to lack of funds or unwillingness to spend money on the purchase of various academic journals of repute and the latest books published recently on different topics. Moreover, they show little interest in subscribing to various online websites dedicated to publishing good academic research and articles. Resultantly, the students are deprived of learning about the recent developments in the field of their academic interests. This immensely affected the quality of the research works produced by the researchers in the form of doctoral theses or dissertations. This is also true in this context that the average researcher can't afford the cost of required online and offline publications. However, higher educational institutions have ventured to get access to journals of repute during the past few years. At present, approximately 2,400 such institutions can access journals deriving benefits from subscriptions through 10 different library consortia which are under the administrative control of various ministries. A library consortium is a group of two or more libraries that have agreed to cooperate to fulfill similar needs which are usually confined to resource sharing. These consortia provide access to e-resources such as journals, databases, standards, and e-books. The notable ministries and departments include the Ministry of Education, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Department of Atomic Energy, the Department of Space, Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The largest of these is E-Shodh Sindhu (ESS) under the Ministry of Education, which serves around 2,000 government institutions, including Institutes of National Importance (INIs) like IITs, IIMs, IISERs, and NITs.

The ONOS initiative

On 25 November 2024, the Union Cabinet approved a budgetary allocation of Rs.6,000 crore for the One Nation One Subscription initiative. The aim of this initiative is to provide government-run higher education institutions (HEIs) equitable access to 13,000 scholarly journals under a single platform. This shift is aligned with the National Education Policy, (NEP) 2020 objectives and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, which put emphasis on the importance of multidisciplinary education and research.

The Scope of ONOS

1. This initiative aims to consolidate the disaggregated approach to journal access for all government HEIs to access journals in large numbers on one platform, which will be active on January 1, 2025. This common platform will host 13,000 journals published by 30 international publishers including Elsevier Science Direct (including Lancet), Springer Nature, Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, Sage Publishing, American Chemical Society, and American Mathematical Society, among others.
2. The new initiative includes all central universities, state public universities, and colleges supported by the government of India. Furthermore, the ONOS offers centralized access to resources across all disciplines in contrast to past structures.
3. The number of institutions benefiting from these subscriptions will increase by over 160%. Significantly, all government medical colleges. At present, only 74 medical colleges, including 14 AIIMS out of 26, are covered under the medical consortium, National Medical Library's Electronic Resources in Medicine Consortium (ERMED).
4. ONOS, with its extensive coverage, has ensured 98-100 percent fulfillment of the e-journal requirement of most consortia. In the next phase, it is likely to expand to private higher educational institutions through a public-private model.6

Reasons Behind Launching ONOS

1. To expand access to the best scholarly journals for 55 lakhs to nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, and researchers across roughly 6,300 government universities, colleges, research bodies, and Institutions of National Importance (INIs).
2. To avoid duplication of journal subscriptions across different library consortia, and individual HEIs which will help reduce excess expenditure on overlapping resources.
3. To provide better bargaining power when negotiating with publishers through a single subscription for all government HEIs.
4. To help the Centre gain insights into the extent to which journals are being used and downloaded by the government higher education ecosystem.

Procedure to Follow

In order to benefit from this initiative, the institutions will only have to register on the platform to access these journals. The INFLIBNET platform has been designated as the implementing agency for this initiative.

The Centre negotiated one subscription price for each of the 30 different publishers and approved Rs.6,000 crore for three calendar years-2025, 2026 and 2027.8

Future Planning

The Centre will now negotiate Article Processing Charges (APCs) with journal publishers. This is also known as publication fees, which are the charges authors are required to pay to publish in certain journals. Besides that, the government has to take a call on expanding its net to the private HEIs.

Conclusion

One Nation One Subscription is an India-specific subscription-based model of scholarly publishing. It is a practical solution for expanding knowledge access to the government's higher educational institutions in the country. Maybe in the future, private institutions will also be included in the scheme. This initiative may be seen as a ‘fundamental shift’ in the realm of scholarly research in India. Also, it is an important step towards achieving a universal and equitable approach to open access, which is in tune with a principle enshrined in Article 27 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Undoubtedly, this initiative will expand the horizons of knowledge for researchers, scholars, students at large, and the faculty members of higher education institutions. This move will be of great help to the resources-starved state universities and other higher educational institutions. At the same time, this initiative will further enhance the opportunity for cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary research in the country.

However, it may be added here that private higher educational institutions should also be included in the new initiative. This is a common phenomenon that the building infrastructure of such institutions is much better than the government-owned buildings but their condition in regard to reading material is sometimes worse than that of government institutions. Thus, this step must be ensured in the interests of the aspiring students. Secondly, in the future, books of learned scholars in particular, either foreign or Indian, must be brought into the net of this initiative. These books are not necessarily loaded on any website. Scholarly books are the foundation on which new research is accomplished. If this happens, it can be hoped that the Indian research scenario will invariably become world-class. Till then, the present initiative of the government, One Nation One Subscription must be welcomed by all.

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References

• Ritika Chopra, What is govt's ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative?, The Indian Express, Nov 28, 2024.
• VS Chauhan, Remya Haridasan, Scholars without borders, The Indian Express, Dec 17,2024.
• Ibid.
• Ritika Chopra, What is govt's ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative?, Nov 27, 2024.
• VS Chauhan, Scholars without borders, The Indian Express, Dec 17, 2024.
• Ibid.
• Ritika Chopra, What is govt's ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative? The Indian Express, Nov 28, 2024.
• Ibid.