$715 Million Deal: “India Takes Out Giant Nationwide Subscription to 13,000 Journals”

From Science:

Last week, the Indian government announced a giant deal with multiple publishers that will allow an estimated 18 million students, faculty, and researchers free access to nearly 13,000 journals, including some top-tier ones, through a single portal.

Under the One Nation One Subscription scheme, which kicks in on 1 January 2025, India will pay a total of about $715 million over 3 years to 30 global publishers, including some of the largest, such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley. (AAAS, the publisher of Science, is also part of the deal.)

[Clip]

Some scholars criticized the deal for continuing to spend public money on journal subscriptions at a time when many countries have been shifting to other business models that provide articles open access, including some that do not charge author fees. “At best, this is a short-term measure” as those alternatives expand, says Sridhar Gutam, a scientist at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research and founder of Open Access India, which advocates for them.

Learn More, Read the Complete Article (660 words)

See Also: Cabinet Approves One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) (via Ministry of Education, Government of India)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Elsevier, News, Open Access, Publishing, Springer Nature