One Nation, One Subscription to Start on January 1: Key Details Explained

Beginning on January 1, at least 30 prestigious academic publications published worldwide will be freely accessible to at least 18 million students from all government-funded higher education institutions in the nation, including IITs.

The project is a component of the "One Nation, One Subscription" (ONOS) policy of the Narendra Modi administration, which was approved by the Union Cabinet last month.

First Phase of ONOS

The first phase of the ONOS initiative will provide researchers with access to at least 13,400 international journals covering science, technology, engineering, medicine, mathematics, management, social sciences, and the humanities. This was informed  in a press conference by AK Sood, the government's principal scientific advisor.

Participating Institutions and Publishers

The program will grant access to journals from 30 leading publishers, such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley, to 6,380 higher education and research institutes. These include:

• 451 state public universities
• 4,864 colleges
• 172 institutes of national importance

Access to International Journals under ONOS

"Under ONOS, all institutions will have access to 13,400 research journals, whereas previously, institutions like IITs or Central universities subscribed to a limited number of journals related to specific disciplines," stated Abhay Karadikar, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology.

ONOS Budget for 3 Years

According to him, once the ONOS initiative launches on January 1, the top journals will be available for access for the next three years.

The initiative has been launched as a central government scheme with a three-year budget of ₹6,000 crore.

The government intends to use a public-private partnership approach to expand the project to private academic institutions in the second phase. The third phase will provide foreign journals to everyone through specific access locations at public libraries.

UGC’s Independent Body to Monitor ONOS

The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an independent inter-university center of the University Grants Commission (UGC), will serve as the central organization for ONOS.

"The initiative will promote core and interdisciplinary research in the country by providing access to scholarly journals to a wide diaspora of students, faculty, researchers, and scientists of all disciplines, including those in tier 2 and tier 3 cities," stated Sood in the press conference.

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