‘Global excitement’: Govt on foreigners reacting to One Nation One Subscription

The One Nation One Subscription initiative will provide free access to nearly 13,000 academic journals for 18 million students.

Sharing reaction of foreigners to the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative, the government said on Friday the scheme under which 1,300 journals have been unlocked and made free of cost has sparked “global excitement".

Under the new One Nation-One Subscription (ONOS) plan, launching in January 2025, 18 million students, researchers, and faculty will gain free access to nearly 13,000 journals(Pixabay/Representative)

India, the third-largest producer of research papers globally, is set to revolutionise access to academic resources. Under the new One Nation-One Subscription (ONOS) plan, launching in January 2025, 18 million students, researchers, and faculty will gain free access to nearly 13,000 journals, including publications from Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley, which is hard to access. Foreigners have applauded the move, noting its potential to reshape India’s research landscape.

MyGovIndia, the citizen engagement platform of Government of India, posted on X views of several foreigners over the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative. "I greatly admire Modi and his cabinet. It’s sad that many people fail to see the incredible work he and his administration have done for the country. They are a prime example of how a nation and its leaders should operate to manage 1.5 billion people while addressing the corruption and mess created by previous governments. Modi is truly an exceptional leader," one such post read.

"Indian gov't is buying a subscription to 13,000 academic journals, and then making them all available to "18 million students, faculty, and researchers" for free. The cost is $715 million over 3 years. It includes Elsevier, Nature, and AAAS. Have any other countries done this?" another post shared by MyGovIndia read.

One Nation One Subscription

According to the government, the initiative “will open a goldmine of knowledge available in top quality scholarly journals to nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, researchers and scientists of all disciplines, including those in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, thereby encouraging core as well as interdisciplinary research in the country”.

A total of 30 major international journal publishers have been included in One Nation One Subscription. All of the nearly 13,000 e-journals published by these publishers will now be accessible to more than 6,300 government Higher Education Institutions and central government R&D institutions, a PIB release said.

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

A total of almost ₹6,000 crore has been allocated for One Nation One Subscription for 3 calendar years, 2025, 2026 and 2027 as a new Central Sector Scheme