India’s ambitious One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative is rapidly transforming access to academic research, with over 11.3 crore article downloads recorded in its first year of implementation.

Data from the Ministry of Education shows Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Science emerging as the top users of the platform in 2025, logging 40.3 lakh and 28.3 lakh downloads respectively. Among central universities, Banaras Hindu University reported 15.3 lakh downloads, while University of Delhi recorded 14.2 lakh.

Launched on January 1, 2025, after approval by the Union Cabinet in November 2024, ONOS provides free access to international academic journals for students, researchers and faculty in government institutions. The Centre pays publishers directly, eliminating subscription costs and standardizing access nationwide.

Officials said the platform is now facilitating nearly one crore downloads every month. To sustain the initiative, the government has earmarked ₹6,000 crore for a three-year period from 2025 to 2027.

The platform aggregates content from 30 major global publishers, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Among them, Elsevier accounted for the largest share of downloads at 4.4 crore (37%), followed by Springer at 2.2 crore (18%). The American Chemical Society contributed 1.4 crore downloads.

The rollout marks a significant shift from the earlier fragmented subscription model managed through 10 separate consortia such as e-Shodh Sindhu, Defence Library Consortium and Electronic Resources in Medicine Consortium. Together, these provided access to around 8,000 journals.

Under ONOS, the number of accessible journals has risen to over 13,000. The user base has nearly doubled from 55 lakh to about one crore, while participating institutions have expanded from roughly 2,300 to 5,800.

The financial scale of the programme has also grown. Annual spending on journal subscriptions has increased from about ₹850 crore under the earlier consortia system to nearly ₹1,800 crore under ONOS.

Operated through a central portal managed by the Information and Library Network Centre under the University Grants Commission, the platform enables access via campus networks as well as remote login. It also supports researchers publishing in open-access journals by covering article processing charges for select titles.

The initiative will be reviewed by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation to assess usage trends and research output. Officials say the scheme is already widening access to scholarly resources, particularly for institutions in smaller cities, and is expected to strengthen research and innovation across disciplines.