Centre to implement ‘One Nation One Subscription’ for open access to research from April 1, 2023

NEW DELHI: The central government will implement the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative for countrywide access to researchers from April 1, 2023. The first phase of ONOS will include resources from 70 publishers.

“Based on the recommendation of Planning and Execution Committee (PEC) of ONOS, core committee is considering 70 publishers’ resources under the first phase of ONOS from April 1, 2023 onward…,” read a statement from the Ministry of Education.

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The initiative is being implemented for all government, government-funded academic and R&D institutions, research labs from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and other ministry or department funded institutions.

In a letter to directors of Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs) and vice-chancellors of central universities, higher education secretary K Sanjay Murthy asked for their support towards the initiative by ensuring that the renewals of e-resources from the list of publishers are in sync with ONOS activities. He informed that the Cost Negotiation Committee (CNC) will start the negotiation with the publishers shortly and therefore urged to put the renewals on hold till negotiations are underway. The secretary further informed that updates on ONOS activities including negotiations will be provided on or before December 15.

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“As you may be aware that “One Nation One Subscription” (ONOS) an initiative by the Office of Scientific Adviser to the government of India, aims to provide countrywide access to national and international scientific and academic content. 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,” read ministry’s statement.

“This initiative is expected to benefit all research and educational institutions including universities, colleges, research organizations, as well as every citizen of the country,” it further said.