India Takes Out Giant Nationwide Subscription To 13,000 Journals (science.org)
(Monday December 02, 2024 @11:45PM (msmash)
from the moving-forward dept.)
- Reference: 0175583421
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/12/03/0220227/india-takes-out-giant-nationwide-subscription-to-13000-journals
- Source link: https://www.science.org/content/article/india-takes-out-giant-nationwide-subscription-13-000-journals
India has struck a landmark $715 million deal with 30 global academic publishers to provide nationwide [1]free access to nearly 13,000 research journals . The "One Nation One Subscription" initiative, launching January 2025, will benefit an estimated 18 million students and researchers. The agreement, which surpasses similar arrangements in Germany and the UK, marks a significant shift in India's academic publishing landscape, despite the country's position as the world's third-largest producer of research papers. Science magazine:
> India's is expected to encompass some 6300 government-funded institutions, which produce almost half the country's research papers. Currently, only about 2300 of these institutions have subscriptions to 8000 journals. Under the new arrangement, "universities that aren't so well funded, and can't afford many journals, will gain," said Aniket Sule of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. Specialist institutes that only subscribe to journals relevant to their field will benefit from accessing work outside their silos, he added. Colleges that want to subscribe to journals not included under this initiative can use their own funds to do so.
>
> Some part of the $715 million will cover the fees some journals charge to publish papers open access, making them immediately free to read by anyone worldwide when published, Madalli told Science. Details of that component have not been worked out yet, but the amount will be calculated based on the country's current spending on these fees, known as article-processing charges (APCs), which are paid by authors or their institutions, Madalli says.
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/india-takes-out-giant-nationwide-subscription-13-000-journals
> India's is expected to encompass some 6300 government-funded institutions, which produce almost half the country's research papers. Currently, only about 2300 of these institutions have subscriptions to 8000 journals. Under the new arrangement, "universities that aren't so well funded, and can't afford many journals, will gain," said Aniket Sule of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. Specialist institutes that only subscribe to journals relevant to their field will benefit from accessing work outside their silos, he added. Colleges that want to subscribe to journals not included under this initiative can use their own funds to do so.
>
> Some part of the $715 million will cover the fees some journals charge to publish papers open access, making them immediately free to read by anyone worldwide when published, Madalli told Science. Details of that component have not been worked out yet, but the amount will be calculated based on the country's current spending on these fees, known as article-processing charges (APCs), which are paid by authors or their institutions, Madalli says.
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/india-takes-out-giant-nationwide-subscription-13-000-journals
Just pay the fees to publish (Score:2)
by johnstrass1 ( 2451730 )
This is actually great news for India. However, in the United States, we will never have anything like that. Most journals now have an option to let you pay to make your article free for open access. When do you think about the amount of time and resources you and your team have invested, an extra $600-$2000 for open access at a high-quality publication is not that much. And it means people will actually read it and you will get citations.
knowledge is power except in the US (Score:1)
where nothing transcends the power of lobbyists of publishing companies to make you pay up or stay dumb.
Re:knowledge is power except in the US (Score:5, Insightful)
What's funny in the US is that the people actually fund a lot of the research that they then have to pay for to access in journals, so we pay for it twice.
Biden was going make federal agencies make papers that describe taxpayer funded work to be freely available for the public, which is a start at least.
[1]https://www.science.org/conten... [science.org]
the new administration says they are considering doing the same thing, but I see them as far more succeptable to lobbiests and special interests and doubt it will happen, after all, the said they were considering it when they were in power last time and didn't do it.
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/white-house-requires-immediate-public-access-all-u-s--funded-research-papers-2025
Re: (Score:3)
I'll believe it when I see it. As we are right now, corporations like Elsevier basically have a stranglehold on scientific knowledge. Particularly when this research is funded with public monies, it should be forbidden that someone holds the results hostage with a paywall. I don't think it matters which asshat is in office; I don't see it changing anytime soon.