2.Discuss the Indian government’s ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ (ONOS) scheme and analyze its potential benefits and challenges.
The ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ (ONOS) scheme, approved by the Indian Cabinet in November 2023, is a bold initiative to ensure equitable access to scholarly journals across all public institutions in India. With a financial outlay of ₹6,000 crore over three years, ONOS aims to democratize access to research articles. However, its implementation raises several critical questions, especially in light of the global shift toward Open Access (OA) publishing.
Key Features of ONOS:
●Objective: To provide equitable access to international scholarly journals, enabling all Indian public institutions, regardless of financial capacity, to access research.
●Financial Commitment: ₹6,000 crore allocated over three years (2025-2027) to pay major international journal publishers.
●Current Context: Indian institutions currently spend around ₹1,500 crore annually on subscriptions, a figure that is set to increase under the ONOS scheme.
Challenges of the ONOS Scheme:
1.Global Shift Towards Open Access (OA):
○OA Publishing: Over 53% of global scientific papers are now OA, with major funding bodies like the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and Horizon Europe mandating OA publishing from 2026. OA aims to provide free access to research, reducing dependency on subscription models.
○ONOS and OA Tension: ONOS seems misaligned with this global trend. Given the growing prevalence of OA, the substantial investment in a subscription-based model raises questions about its financial prudence and long-term relevance. The scheme may become obsolete as more research articles become freely accessible.
2.Commercial Publishing System Issues:
○Exorbitant Subscription Fees: The scholarly publishing system is criticized for high subscription fees imposed by a few Western publishers, with profit margins exceeding 30%. This creates an unsustainable model where public institutions are forced to pay to access research they have already funded.
○Lack of Innovation: Commercial publishers resist innovations like faster publishing and alternative funding models, exacerbating inefficiencies in the system.
○Gold OA and High APCs: OA has shifted to models like gold OA, where researchers pay high article processing charges (APCs), which are financially burdensome, especially for researchers in developing countries like India.
3.Copyright and Intellectual Property:
○Authors’ Rights: The subscription model requires researchers to surrender copyrights, which allows publishers to exploit their work without consent. A notable example is the 2024 controversy where publishers signed deals to use articles for AI training without compensating authors.
○Need for Copyright Protection: ONOS should have considered policies similar to Harvard’s 2008 model, which allowed researchers to retain the right to disseminate their work and self-archive it in OA repositories, ensuring global access without compromising authors’ intellectual property.
4.Lack of Focus on Self-Reliant Publishing Infrastructure:
○India’s Potential for Innovation: India has the resources and expertise to build a robust indigenous publishing ecosystem, reducing dependence on Western publishers. The country can invest in pre printing, data sharing, and building world-class Indian journals.
○ONOS Missed Opportunity: ONOS could have been a platform for fostering self-reliance in scholarly publishing, addressing structural issues such as copyright retention and improving the OA ecosystem within India.
Structural Issues and Recommendations for Improvement:
1.Implementation of Open Access Policies:
○ONOS should have integrated institutional repositories to promote green OA, where research is made freely available post-publication. This would complement the government’s 2014 Open Access Policy, which has seen poor implementation.
2.Retaining Copyright for Researchers:
○ONOS should prioritize the retention of copyright by Indian researchers, allowing them to share their work globally through OA platforms, which would contribute to the global accessibility of Indian research.
3.Building Self-Reliance in Publishing:
○India should invest in building its own publishing infrastructure, elevating Indian journals to international standards and reducing dependence on expensive subscription-based models. This could involve collaboration with academic institutions, research bodies, and global OA initiatives.
While the ONOS scheme holds potential for democratizing access to scholarly research, its alignment with global trends like Open Access and its focus on subscription models need careful re-evaluation. A comprehensive strategy that includes OA, copyright retention, and self-reliant publishing would be more sustainable and forward-thinking. Without addressing these structural issues, ONOS may become a short-term solution that fails to tackle the long-term challenges of scholarly publishing in India.
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