Dec 17, 2024 07:18 IST
First published on: Dec 17, 2024 at 07:18 IST
-
Share
On November 25, the Centre approved the Pradhan Mantri-One Nation One Subscription (PM-ONOS) scheme. This ambitious initiative will grant access to a vast collection of scholarly research e-journals, marking a transformative moment for students, researchers, and academic institutions across India, especially those from the country’s less-endowed institutions. The scheme is designed to provide all government Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and research institutions access to over 13,000 e-journals from 30 of the world’s most prominent publishers. Such access spans disciplines including STEM, medicine, management, social sciences, and the humanities, offering an unprecedented expansion of knowledge.
At present, approximately 2,400 institutions benefit from subscriptions through 10 different library consortia. These consortia, managed by various government ministries and departments, provide access to e-resources such as journals, databases, standards, and e-books. Some key players in this ecosystem include the Ministry of Education, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Department of Atomic Energy, the Department of Space, Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The largest of these is E-Shodh Sindhu (ESS) under the Ministry of Education, which serves around 2,000 government institutions, including Institutes of National Importance (INIs) like IITs, IIMs, IISERs, and NITs. The new initiative includes all central universities, state public universities, and colleges supported by the government of India. Historically, these consortia have operated in a fragmented manner, catering to specific disciplines, but ONOS offers centralised access to resources across all disciplines.
The number of institutions benefiting from these subscriptions will increase by over 160 per cent. Notably this initiative will extend access to all government medical colleges, addressing the current gap in coverage by the National Medical Library’s Electronic Resources in Medicine Consortium (ERMED) under M/o H&FW. Currently, only 74 medical colleges, including 14 AIIMS (out of 26) are covered under the medical consortium, ERMED. With the introduction of ONOS, all government medical colleges in the country will get access to e-journals. ONOS also seeks to foster research culture in tier-2 and tier-3 HEIs.
Under the existing consortia model, journal access has been discipline-specific, limiting researchers’ ability to access materials outside their immediate field. ONOS will consolidate these resources, offering access to approximately 13,000 journals across various disciplines.
This shift is aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 objectives and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, which emphasise the importance of multi-disciplinary education and research. Institutes like IIT Madras are already blending traditional engineering and technology curricula with social sciences and offering clinical research programmes in partnership with leading medical institutions. Through ONOS, these efforts can be reinforced, with easy access to relevant journals across fields like sociology, economics, psychology, and the like. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation also encourages cross-sectoral collaborations and ONOS is expected to be a powerful tool in promoting such partnerships. The removal of disciplinary silos in academic research will not only enhance the quality and impact of Indian research but also drive innovation that can contribute to social and economic development.
With its vast coverage of journals, ONOS has ensured 98-100 per cent fulfilment of the e-journal requirement of most consortia. In its next phases, ONOS has a plan, subject to approvals, to expand to private higher educational institutions through a public-private partnership model. Ways of moving forward towards this stage will be guided by the learnings from the current pilot phase and will likely involve new models such as transformative agreements that combine subscription costs with open-access publishing.
ONOS is not a value judgement on the subscription-based model of scholarly publishing but the adoption of the most practical India-specific solution towards expanding knowledge access till a sustainable open access model is achieved globally. The initiative represents a fundamental shift in the way scholarly research is accessed and shared in India. It is an important step towards a universal and equitable approach to achieving open access — a principle enshrined in Article 27 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
By expanding access to scholarly resources, ONOS will empower students, faculty, and researchers to push the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. It presents great opportunities to state universities that do not possess the financial strength of many elite institutions in the country. Even for leading academic and R&D institutions, this opens up the opportunity for cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary research like never before. It has the potential to be a game-changer in the knowledge ecosystem.
Chauhan is former director, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Haridasan is scientist, Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India
Why should you buy our Subscription?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be misled and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package
