If you’re a teacher, faculty, or a research student, this is specifically for you!
In a significant move to provide unified access to international scholarly research and journal publication, the Government of India has approved the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme on Monday, 25 November 2024.
This initiative is set to bridge the gap in access to academic resources, fostering research excellence and youth empowerment in positioning India as a global hub for research, learning and knowledge.
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What is One Nation One Subscription or ONOS?
Scheduled to be launched on 1st January 2025, the One Nation One Subscription is as a unified academic resource platform that will provide seamless access for faculties, researchers and students to over 13,000 journals from 30 major International Publishers.
To facilitate this, the government has allocated the budget of rupees ₹6,000 Crore (US $ 710 million) for the scheme, for the three-year period 2025 to 2027. These resources will be made available to over 6,300 government higher education institutions.
That’s not all. It will also be available for the research and development institutions managed by the central and state governments.
The ONOS marks a significant departure from the current fragmented subscription models, enabling not only a very cost-effective, but also equitable access to high quality academic resources and research papers for faculties, researchers and students across the country.
The One Nation One Subscription scheme will be coordinated by Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) run by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The centre runs a nationwide high-speed data network connecting the universities, libraries and other information centres, and will be serving as a central agency for handling all the subscriptions.
What are the Benefits of ONOS?
The newly approved One Nation One Subscription scheme is expected to benefit approximately 1.80 crore (18 million) students, faculties, and researchers across disciplines.
Institutions that previously struggle to afford comprehensive Journal subscriptions will, now with the help of the scheme, have access to invaluable resources, promoting equitable research opportunities nationwide.
Meanwhile the Education Ministry stated that this initiative democratizes access to knowledge, empowering under-resourced colleges and universities, and fostering quality research and Innovation.
INFLIBNET will be tasked to manage the subscriptions to the Publishers like Science Direct, Springer Nature and Wiley Blackwell Publishing, among others.
Additionally, the institution will also have option to purchase additional subscriptions for journals which are not covered under the scheme.
In order to ensure the scheme’s success, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) will periodically review its impact and usage.
The department of higher education and state governments will also run campaigns to raise awareness about the resource available through ONOS, to ensure optimal use by the students, faculties and the researchers.
ANRF promotes a research-driven education culture across Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Additionally, it will monitor the publication of Indian authors and their contribution to the global research output.
Meanwhile the government also emphasized integrating the initiative with the goals of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the Viksit Bharat at 2047.
How to Access ONOS?
The unified portal will streamline access to resources through a fully digital, user-friendly process.
The state governments will also be requested to carry out campaigns at their level, to maximize the usage of the unique facility by the students, faculty, and researchers of all government institutions, without facing financial constraints.
ONOS Will Cut Research Costs By Almost 18%: IIM Mumbai Evaluation Study
A new evaluation by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Mumbai reveals that the implementation of the One Nation One Subscription scheme will reduce research expenses by 18%.
Professor Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Director of IIM Mumbai, stressed the importance of accurate data and technical expertise in research.
He said, “Research costs, tools, consumables, and support services play a significant role. However, limited funding for research affects both the quality of research and education standards“.
Currently, IIM Mumbai has access to journals from six publishers, which includes 2,879 journals and over 30,000 conference proceedings.
With ONOS, the institute will expand its access to 13,000 journals, a 38% increase, while reducing its library budget by 18%. These funds could be redirected to other developmental or research initiatives.
The ONOS scheme is expected to impact 10,845 institutions, including those ranked under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
Preliminary data from the Ministry of Education indicates a 213.6% increase in the number of users and a 167.4% rise in the number of beneficiary institutions. Overall, beneficiaries will gain access to 60% more research publications.