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A recent editorial in Nature praised India's rise as a scientific powerhouse, paralleling its growing economic influence. The Indian science ecosystem is indeed impressive, ranking third globally in research output and eleventh in quality according to the Nature Index. However, the ‘ease of doing science’ crucial for discoveries and innovation depends on robust infrastructure and resources, areas where India still faces significant challenges.

Expansion of Universities and Resource Deficiency

• From 2014 to 2021, the number of universities in India rose from 760 to 1,113. Despite this growth, many universities still lack essential resources such as instrumental access and sophisticated labs. Even more critical is the lack of access to the literature that underpins research.
• To bridge this gap, a pioneering initiative known as I-STEM has been introduced. I-STEM catalogues all publicly funded research facilities nationwide, making them available to researchers based on need. This demand-supply mapping aims to democratise the availability of advanced research infrastructure.

The One Nation, One Subscription (ONOS) Proposal

• Similarly, the call for ‘One Nation, One Subscription (ONOS)’ proposes a centralised model of subscription to scientific journals, making them universally available to all publicly funded institutions. Access to these commercial journals is costly, with Indian institutions spending an estimated ₹1,500 crore annually to access journals and databases.
• However, the benefits of this expenditure are reaped primarily by the top few institutes. What of the rest? Currently, the Indian government is negotiating with the five major commercial publishers who dominate the market to implement ONOS.

Is ONOS the Optimal Solution?

• When ONOS was conceptualized around 2019, a significant portion of scholarly articles was behind paywalls. However, the landscape has shifted significantly, with a much larger fraction of articles now available via Open Access (OA). An analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science shows that the fraction of OA publications globally increased from 38% in 2018 to 50% in 2022. This shift raises a query about the necessity and efficiency of paying for content that is increasingly available for free.
• Currently, there is a strong push for OA by the U.S. and European Union. The U.S. released its updated OA policy in 2023 that mandates immediate open accessibility of all publicly funded research articles by 2025. Similarly, major philanthropic funding sources such as the Wellcome Trust have mandated OA for the research they fund. Considering this trend, it is reasonable to argue that the expenditure on journal subscriptions should decrease.

Challenges with the Oligopolistic Academic Publishing Market

• The oligopolistic academic publishing market is dominated by a handful of powerful publishers in the global north, which allows these publishers to set stringent terms, making any negotiation on ONOS a challenge. The entrenched reputation and authority of these publishers also stymie any discussion of alternatives.
• In any other government procurement, the use of public funds is stringently regulated to ensure maximum cost efficiency and benefit. Why should the procurement of academic journals be any different? If significant portions of research are already accessible without cost, the rationale for a unified, costly subscription becomes less compelling. It is also important to note that ONOS will not make Indian research globally accessible; rather, it primarily facilitates access for Indian researchers to journals owned by big publishing oligarchs.

Issues with Digital Preservation

• Further complicating the issue, even if one pays and subscribes to the journal, there is no guarantee of continued access. Today, most academic journals are only digitally available. While most articles have a digital object identifier (DOI), this does not ensure long-term preservation.
• A recent study highlights that “approximately 28% of academic journal articles with DOIs appear entirely unpreserved.” This finding suggests that millions of research papers risk vanishing from the Internet. For example, over 17,000 research papers from a chemistry journal distributed by Elsevier globally, except in Japan, disappeared when the journal was discontinued in December 2023.

The Case for Green Open Access

• Given that commercial publishers have not taken up the responsibility of long-term availability of the content they profit from, it is logical that every article authored by Indian researchers and funded by taxpayer money should be archived in publicly funded OA repositories. This practice exemplifies what is referred to as Green Open Access.
• This allows authors to deposit a version of their work in a university repository, making it freely accessible to everyone globally. Although Indian funding agencies have mandated green OA for a long time, this has never been enforced. The recent troubles should catalyse a stronger push for green OA.

Moving Towards Self-Reliance

• Major publishers such as Elsevier (Netherlands), Thomson Reuters (Canada), Taylor Francis (U.K.), Springer Nature (Germany), and Wiley and SAGE (U.S.) have headquarters in the global north and are extremely profitable enterprises. Much of this profit is derived from the unpaid labour provided by researchers in the form of peer reviews and editorial works.
• To become atmanirbhar (self-reliant), India needs to improve its own journal system, eliminating the burden of payment to authors or readers. With its capabilities in digital technology, India should also become a pioneer for the global south by creating and sharing digital public infrastructure for low-cost, high-quality scientific publishing.

Conclusion

With the evolving landscape of academic publishing, investing in an all-encompassing subscription model like ONOS is not prudent. The significant increase in Open Access publications and the push from major global entities towards OA make the ONOS model less necessary and cost-ineffective. Instead, focusing on Green Open Access and improving India's own digital infrastructure for scientific publishing will better serve the goal of self-reliance in science.

Source- The Hindu