India emerged as the third-largest producer of research papers globally last year. However, thousands of students and researchers have been unable to access many of these journals due to their institutions’ inability to afford costly subscriptions. This is set to change as the Indian government recently announced a groundbreaking agreement under the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme. Starting 1 January 2025, approximately 18 million students, faculty, and researchers across India will gain free access to nearly 13,000 journals through a single portal, including prestigious publications from major global publishers.
The government will invest $715 million over three years to partner with 30 leading publishers, such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and AAAS (publisher of Science). This deal represents the largest agreement of its kind globally, surpassing similar deals in Germany and the UK, which were negotiated with individual publishers and covered fewer institutions. The initiative will span 6300 government-funded institutions, producing nearly half of India’s research output. Currently, only about 2300 institutions have subscriptions to 8000 journals. With the new scheme, smaller and less-funded institutions will gain access to a broader array of academic resources, helping bridge knowledge gaps.
Some funds from the ONOS scheme will also cover article-processing charges (APCs), which allow authors to make their papers open access upon publication. At an average global cost of $2000 per article, these charges are often unaffordable for many researchers in India. Details on this component are still being finalized.
The deal, which took two years to negotiate, is viewed as a cost-effective arrangement by experts like Devika Madalli, director of the Information and Library Network Centre, which coordinated the initiative. “India got a good deal,” Madalli said, as the agreement covers more journals and readers than what institutions previously paid for fragmented subscriptions.
While the ONOS initiative has been widely applauded for improving access, some scholars have criticized it as a stopgap measure. Critics argue that the $715 million could have been better invested in research stipends, laboratories, or promoting open-access publishing models like “diamond open access,” where governments fund both publishing and access. Sridhar Gutam, founder of Open Access India, noted that alternatives such as free-to-access repositories remain underutilized in India, as researchers prioritize publishing in prestigious European and U.S. journals for career advancement.
With an estimated 50% of global articles now published as open access, skeptics like Muthu Madhan from O.P. Jindal Global University believe India’s price tag for journal subscriptions is too high. He advocates for a shift towards sustainable models that eliminate costs for readers and authors.
Despite the criticism, experts agree that this deal addresses India’s immediate need for equitable access to research resources. However, long-term reforms in how research is published and accessed will be crucial for sustaining the benefits of open science in the future.
Do you think this can act as a low-key major driver for research and development in the future?
