One Nation One Subscription initiative by education ministry to allow open access to research papers from April 1

In an excellent piece of news for research scholars in India, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has announced a One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative through which people of India can have open access to national and international journal publications and research papers from April 1, 2023.

Not just schools, colleges, universities and research institutes, the ONOS initiative will benefit everyone in the nation. This initiative is by the Office of Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

Resources from 70 publishers recommended by the Planning and Execution Committee (PEC) are being taken into consideration by the core committee for the first phase of ONOS.

A state from the education ministry reads: ”The ONOS intends to sign national licenses with most of the prominent STEM publishers and database producers of the world whose contents are already being subscribed by various institutions of higher education and research organizations either directly or through government-funded consortia”.

PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES

The primary institutes which would benefit from ONOS are government institutes, government-funded academic institutes, and research and development institutions.

Other beneficiaries would be research labs from ministry departments such as the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEiTY), and others.