‘One Nation One Subscription’: All about Centre’s scheme to ensure access to academic journals

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet on Monday approved ‘One Nation One Subscription’, a new central government scheme to ensure country-wide access to scholarly research articles and journal publications.

The Modi government has allocated ₹ 6,000 crore for a period of three years for the initiative which is in line with the goals of Viksit Bharat @ 2047, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF).

The scheme aims to offer students, faculty and researchers of all higher education institutions managed by the central and state governments and research and development institutions of the central government access to international high-impact scholarly research articles and journal publications.

A total of 30 major international journal publishers have been included in One Nation One Subscription.

Access to journals will be provided through a national subscription coordinated by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) through an entirely digital process.

The availability of quality scholarly journals will benefit 1.8 crore students, faculty, researchers and scientists of all disciplines.

Key features of One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)

— A total of 30 major international journal publishers have been included in the One Nation One Subscription scheme.

— All of the nearly 13,000 e-journals published by these publishers will be accessible to more than 6,300 government higher education institutions and central government R&D institutions.

— The scheme will be administered through a simple, user-friendly and fully digital process.

— A total of about ₹6,000 crore has been allocated for three calendar years — 2025, 2026 and 2027.

— The benefits of the scheme will be provided through a national subscription coordinated by a central agency, namely the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

— The Department of Higher Education will have a unified portal, One Nation One Subscription, through which the institutions can access the journals.

— The state governments will also be requested to carry out campaigns at their level to maximise usage of the unique facility by students, faculty and researchers of all government institutions.