As publishing goes open access, does ONOS still deliver value for public money? Premium

Is ONOS effectively enhancing research access and value for taxpayers as India transitions to open access publishing?

As publishing rapidly shifts toward complete Open Access—with major platforms like the ACM Digital Library becoming fully OA from January 1, 2026—the relevance of ONOS and its ₹2,200 crore allocation in the 2026–27 Budget warrants a critical reassessment.

Research excellence depends not only on capable researchers and strong infrastructure, but also on timely access to high-quality international literature. In India, uneven access to such resources has often limited the global visibility and integration of otherwise high-quality research.

To bridge this gap, the Government of India, in consultation with academic and scientific leadership, launched the One Nation, One Subscription (ONOS) scheme on January 1, 2025, with an outlay of ₹6,000 crore for the first three calendar years (2025–27). The scheme provides nationwide access to global research across science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and the humanities, covering over 6,000 publicly funded higher education and R&D institutions.

Previously, institutions subscribed individually based on their financial capacity and research priorities, leading to uneven access and duplication of expenditures. Through centralised national negotiations, ONOS aims to secure better pricing, rationalise public spending, and reduce disparities between well-funded and resource-constrained institutions. In the Union Budget 2026–27, the scheme has been allocated ₹2,200 crore; however, its effective implementation and meaningful utilisation—and whether the objectives of ONOS are being fulfilled with this substantial outlay of taxpayers’ money—remain critical questions.

Historically, most institutions subscribed to a limited number of print journals, while premier institutions and major central libraries maintained more comprehensive collections. Access to research was often slow and uneven; scholars depended on physical library visits, postal reprints, or inter-library exchanges to obtain relevant literature. With the advent of digitisation, access became faster and more efficient, and electronic journals gradually replaced print editions. However, escalating subscription prices combined with shrinking institutional budgets rendered the traditional “publish free, pay to read” model increasingly unsustainable—especially for mid-tier and resource-constrained institutions.

In response, scholarly publishing began transitioning toward Open Access (OA) models, in which the financial burden shifts from readers to publication funding. Under this “pay to publish, read for free” framework, research outputs become immediately accessible worldwide, enhancing visibility and potential impact. This marked a significant departure from purely subscription-based systems and ushered in the era of transformative publishing.