Democratising Learning
‘One Nation One Subscription’ can potentially enhance access to academic resources—reducing costs, and enhancing research quality, which could eventually fuel research and innovation in India
The ‘One Nation One Subscription’ (ONOS) scheme, approved by the Government of India, on November 25, 2024, aims to democratise access to academic and research content by enabling institutions, organisations, and individuals to access a wide range of scientific literature, including research papers, journals, and e-books, through a unified subscription model. The scheme will be monitored by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The idea was originally proposed in the National Science and Technology Policy (2020).
By centralising subscriptions to global academic resources, ONOS addresses the long-standing issue of unequal access to scholarly resources by ensuring that institutions, students, and researchers have access to high-quality academic content regardless of their geographical location and financial capacity. By negotiating at the national level, the government can potentially reduce costs by leveraging economies of scale. A single subscription model might also lower administrative overheads for individual institutions. For instance, institutions like IIM Mumbai will save Rs 1.79 crore per annum due to the implementation of ONOS.
It is observed that India has ascended to the 4th position worldwide in research output, with approximately 1.3 million academic papers published between 2017 and 2022. Over 5,300 Indian scientists are listed among the world's top 2 per cent in the Stanford University Global Research Rankings 2024, up from 4,635 in 2023, highlighting India's growing research excellence. Despite high publication volumes, India ranks 9th globally in citations, indicating room for enhancing the impact and quality of its research. In one stroke, ONOS can potentially address this challenge by boosting the quality of research output in India. Researchers can make more informed contributions, fostering innovation in various fields. ONOS can potentially position India as a global research hub, enhancing the country's competitiveness in the international academic and scientific community.
In the NIRF ranking 2024, the category of research and professional practices contributes to 30 per cent of the overall score of the individual institutions. ONOS, if implemented, can contribute to the positioning of the institutions, locally and globally. The scheme aligns with the vision of initiatives like “Digital India” and “National Education Policy (NEP) 2020”, which emphasises equitable access to education and technology.
The programme is geared to be launched in January 2025 with a budget allocation of rupees 6000 crores in the budget for the next three calendar years, covering around 6300 government institutions impacting 1.8 crore students. The trickle-down effect of the scheme can be further multiplied with training and awareness programmes complementing the access. Most importantly, the scheme also involves the monitoring of implementation by the Anuradha National Research Foundation (ANRF), which will increase its reach and effectiveness.
Prof Manoj K Tiwari is Director at IIM Mumbai and Prof Poonam Singh is also at IIM Mumbai. Views expressed are personal
