The One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative is transforming access to academic resources in India, recording over 11 crore research article downloads in its first year of operation. Leading institutions such as IIT Madras and IISc Bengaluru emerged as top users of the platform in 2025.
According to data from the Ministry of Education, IIT Madras recorded 40.3 lakh downloads, followed by IISc Bengaluru with 28.3 lakh. Among central universities, Banaras Hindu University and Delhi University reported 15.3 lakh and 14.2 lakh downloads respectively.
Between January and December 2025, more than 11.3 crore scholarly articles were accessed by students, researchers and faculty across government institutions, reflecting the growing adoption of the initiative.
Approved by the Union Cabinet in November 2024 and launched on January 1, 2025, ONOS provides free access to international academic journals by shifting subscription costs to the central government. Officials noted that the platform currently sees nearly one crore downloads every month. The government has earmarked around Rs 6,000 crore for the initiative over a three-year period from 2025 to 2027.
The platform offers access to journals from 30 major global publishers, including Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Elsevier accounts for the largest share of downloads, followed by Springer and the American Chemical Society.
ONOS has significantly expanded research access compared to the earlier system of multiple consortia such as e-Shodh Sindhu, DeLCON and ERMED. Journal access has increased from about 8,000 to over 13,000 titles, while the number of users has nearly doubled to around one crore. Participating institutions have also grown from approximately 2,300 to nearly 5,800.
The initiative operates through a central portal managed by the INFLIBNET Centre under the University Grants Commission, enabling both campus and remote access. It also supports open-access publishing by covering article processing charges for select journals. Officials say the scheme is improving access to research resources across regions and is expected to strengthen academic output and innovation nationwide.
