What is ONOS?
ONOS (One Nation, One Subscription) is a plan to provide affordable access to expensive research journals through a single subscription
Proposed to ease access for scholars in publicly funded institutes.
Purpose of ONOS
It was introduced to address the high fees charged by research journals, which scholars and institutions must pay to access academic papers, making it difficult for underfunded institutes to afford these resources.
Government's Role
The government will replace consortia (groups of institutions) and directly negotiate with publishers, ensuring that expensive journals become available to government-funded institutions at a lower cost.
Limitations
ONOS is limited to publicly funded institutes, and it does not challenge the commercial publishing model, where journals still charge for access despite being funded by public research.
Criticism
The ONOS plan allocates ₹6,000 crore to international publishers, which could have been used to promote open-access models (like ‘green’ or ‘diamond’ open-access) or support Indian journals.
Concerns about transparency, including whether irrelevant or predatory journals will be excluded, and a lack of consultation with institutions about their specific needs.
COMMENTS