Items tagged by Moumita in Open Access Tracking Project (OATP)

Who owns our knowledge? Rethinking scientific publishing in the AI age

2025-10-29T03:22:37-04:00

Who owns our knowledge? Rethinking scientific publishing in the AI age

"In India, the government has attempted to address this inequity through the ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ (ONOS) initiative: starting from 2025, ONOS provided access to journals from 30 major international publishers to all researchers in publicly funded institutions. While the cost of this nationwide deal is substantial, especially given that over half of the global research literature is already available through open-access routes, as seen from the scholarly database Web of Science, the intent behind ONOS remains commendable. It represents a step toward broadening access beyond elite institutions. Yet it also compels us to ask deeper questions. Should we continue paying these large sums to foreign publishers to access knowledge that our own researchers produce, again with public money? Shouldn’t that knowledge at the least be freely accessible to every citizen, empowering them with the scientific temper needed in an era rife with misinformation? Perhaps most importantly: where is the spirit of an Atmanirbhar Bharat in this enterprise?"

To Serve Their Vital Role in the Research Ecosystem, Publishers Should Follow These Eight Principles | Katina Magazine

2025-06-18T02:05:43-04:00

To Serve Their Vital Role in the Research Ecosystem, Publishers Should Follow These Eight Principles | Katina Magazine

"The rapid, global circulation of ideas through publication has played and will continue to play a central and indispensable role in the scientific process. In recognition of this, the International Science Council set out eight principles for publishing that are essential if science is to be well served (2023)."

Rethinking How Research is Reviewed, Curated, and Communicated | Katina Magazine

2025-02-21T00:14:55-05:00

Rethinking How Research is Reviewed, Curated, and Communicated | Katina Magazine

"MetaROR uses the publish-review-curate model to share work in the field of metaresearch"

Confronting the Challenges and Celebrating the Opportunities of Diamond Open Access | Katina Magazine

2025-01-23T08:48:32-05:00

Confronting the Challenges and Celebrating the Opportunities of Diamond Open Access | Katina Magazine

"The Second Global Summit on Diamond Open Access embraced an ambitious commitment to social equity, decolonization, and systemic reform in scholarly publishing"

India’s ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ plan | Explained - The Hindu

2024-12-03T08:35:49-05:00

India’s ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ plan | Explained - The Hindu

" At the outset, ONOS’s promise to offer equitable access to research articles, irrespective of an institution’s prestige or financial capacity, seems like a step towards democratising scientific knowledge. But a closer examination reveals complexities that call for deeper analysis."

Open Knowledge | Katina Magazine

2024-12-01T02:15:24-05:00

Open Knowledge | Katina Magazine

"Introducing Katina! 📣 Katina is a digital publication that addresses the value of hashtag#librarians to society and elevates their role as trusted stewards of knowledge. Named after Katina Strauch, the visionary founder of the hashtagCharlestonConference, it is written by and for the international communities of librarians, vendors, and hashtagpublishers. Katina is organized into three core sections and one of them is Open Knowledge"

Press Release:Press Information Bureau

2024-11-29T05:12:31-05:00

Press Release:Press Information Bureau

"A total of 30 major international journal publishers have been included in One Nation One Subscription. All of the nearly 13,000 e-journals published by these publishers will now be accessible to more than 6,300 government Higher Education Institutions and central government R&D institutions Access to journals will be provided through a national subscription coordinated by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) through an entirely digital process A total of almost ₹ 6,000 crore has been allocated for One Nation One Subscription for 3 calendar years, 2025, 2026 and 2027 as a new Central Sector Scheme".

Unlocking Knowledge: National Mandate for Institutional Copyright Retention to Enable Open Access in India

2024-09-02T10:16:53-04:00

Unlocking Knowledge: National Mandate for Institutional Copyright Retention to Enable Open Access in India

This brief strongly advocates for implementing a mandatory institutional right-retention policy across all publicly funded institutions in India. This policy would enable immediate self-archiving by allowing authors to retain primary rights over their work. This crucial reform ensures that results from publicly funded research are made open access through institutional or national repositories immediately upon publication. It is essential to empower institutions to dismantle the prohibitive subscription barriers imposed by traditional journals, ensuring the broad dissemination of research funded by public money. Current discussions on open access predominantly focus on the APC-based gold open-access model, which introduces high costs for authors—a significant barrier in resource-constrained countries. There is an urgent need for assertive actions that guarantee unrestricted access to publicly funded research. India offers a vast landscape of opportunities to champion open access by promoting self-archiving in institutional and national repositories. However, the common practice of transferring copyright ownership to journals critically hampers the immediate implementation of such practices as well as the broader use of knowledge. To address this, it is imperative to enforce national mandates that ensure authors' institutions retain primary rights, relegating only secondary rights to publishers. Implementing such policies would catalyse a systemic transformation, reinforcing the ethos of freely accessible and utilizable knowledge for the greater societal good.

Retraction Dashboard

2024-08-27T11:29:55-04:00

Retraction Dashboard

This dashboard helps visualize country-wise statistics on retractions. All our data comes from the Retraction Watch Database, courtesy of Crossref. This project is funded by the Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) through a seed fund.

Open science round-up: May 2024 - International Science Council

2024-06-18T00:24:12-04:00

Open science round-up: May 2024 - International Science Council

Along with the latest news and opportunities in open science, "we feature an editorial by Curtis Brundy, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Collections at Iowa State University, who presents the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model as an equitable open access solution to the financial barrier posed by article processing charges (APC)."

Indian Open Preprint System

2024-06-18T00:19:10-04:00

Indian Open Preprint System

"Indian Open Preprint System (IOPS) is an innovative platform designed to facilitate the rapid dissemination of research findings across various disciplines in India. This system allows researchers to share their work with the academic community and the public before undergoing formal peer review.

By providing an open-access forum for early-stage research, the Indian Open Preprint System aims to enhance collaboration, foster transparency, and accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. They serve as crucial repositories where scholars can access cutting-edge research, receive feedback, and refine their work, ultimately contributing to the advancement of knowledge and the scientific community in India and beyond."

Open access is crucial for self-reliance in science - The Hindu

2024-05-30T02:55:11-04:00

Open access is crucial for self-reliance in science - The Hindu

This article highlights some of the significant challenges that India faces in accessing scholarly publications as a developing country. Why One Nation One Subscription is not adequate has been discussed, along with the importance of green open access and repositories.

Open science round-up: April 2024 - International Science Council

2024-05-24T02:33:32-04:00

Open science round-up: April 2024 - International Science Council

ISC brings you the latest news and reads in the open science sphere. This edition also contains an editorial on Barcelone Declaration by Ludo Waltman.

The Open Access rising tide: Gates Foundation ends support to Article Processing Charges - International Science Council

2024-03-28T11:48:00-04:00

The Open Access rising tide: Gates Foundation ends support to Article Processing Charges - International Science Council

"For Björn Brembs and Luke Drury, the recent announcement by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of their new Open Access Policy signals a growing consensus regarding the imperative to transform the scholarly publishing landscape"

Research Bounty Program

2024-03-15T02:14:29-04:00

Research Bounty Program

Research Bounty Program

"Report Research Misconduct and make money. Feature on our leaderboard! It is an experiment to see if providing an incentive can help catch research misconduct. If successful, this can be deployed on a larger scale to help weed out research misconduct. This project is funded by Open Research Funders Group based in USA."

Open science round-up: February 2024 - International Science Council

2024-03-10T23:50:06-04:00

Open science round-up: February 2024 - International Science Council

Open science newsletter published monthly by the International Science Council. Along with open science-related news, this issue covers an editorial by Dr. Haseeb Irfanullah, who shares his impressions of the recent Researcher to Reader Conference (R2R) and the increasing significance of Open Access (OA) and Open Science (OS) in the discussions.

Open science round-up: December 2023 - International Science Council

2024-02-02T09:39:08-05:00

Open science round-up: December 2023 - International Science Council

Open Science news from ISC open science round up December. In this issue, we feature an insightful editorial by Sal Music on the OPUS project and its significant impact in encouraging Open Science practices.

A promising year ahead for scientific publishing - International Science Council

2024-02-02T09:43:41-05:00

A promising year ahead for scientific publishing - International Science Council

"2023 emerged as a landmark year for scientific publishing, characterized by widespread calls for reform from researchers, journal editors, funding agencies, government and non-governmental entities alike. As we reflect on the year, there are more voices within the academic community speaking to the need of the existing publishing and research evaluation systems to change."

Rebuttal to ‘publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

2024-01-01T23:50:55-05:00

Rebuttal to ‘publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

Rebuttal to ‘publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output: The article by Raj Kishor Kampa, Manoj Kumar Sa and Mallikarjun Dora, Curr. Sci., 2023, 125(10), 1057–1062, claims that Indian researchers spent 17 million USD on article processing charges (APC) for gold open access (OA) articles in 2020. This rebuttal shows that the authors might have made multiple errors and need to redo their calculations.

OSF Preprints | Title: Rebuttal to An Article Published in Current Science that Claims Indian researchers spent 17 Million USD on Article Processing Charges (APC) for gold Open Access (OA) articles in 2020

2023-12-06T00:19:33-05:00

OSF Preprints | Title: Rebuttal to An Article Published in Current Science that Claims Indian researchers spent 17 Million USD on Article Processing Charges (APC) for gold Open Access (OA) articles in 2020

"Title: Publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output. Published in Current Science Volume 125, Issue 10, 25 November, 2023 The article in question claims that Indian researchers spent 17 Million USD on Article Processing Charges (APC) for gold Open Access (OA) articles in 2020. In this rebuttal, we show that the authors might have made multiple errors and need to redo their calculations. Given how widely the media article reporting on this paper was shared, it is imperative that the paper is retracted or a correction is issued by the authors and the journal."

Open science round-up: November 2023 - International Science Council

2023-12-06T00:05:42-05:00

Open science round-up: November 2023 - International Science Council

"The November 2023 Open Science Roundup is dedicated to the 'Year of Open Science' as we review significant developments in the Open Science movement. This month, we also feature insights from André Brasil, a researcher at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), on trailblazing initiatives for Open Access."

The Key Principles for Scientific Publishing - International Science Council

2023-12-06T00:08:24-05:00

The Key Principles for Scientific Publishing - International Science Council

"The International Science Council through its Members have identified a total of eight key principles for scientific publishing. This paper is complemented by a second, evaluating the extent to which the principles are attained and identifying opportunities for reform."

The Case for Reform of Scientific Publishing - International Science Council

2023-12-06T00:13:51-05:00

The Case for Reform of Scientific Publishing - International Science Council

"The Case for Reform of Scientific Publishing, represents the culmination of this phase of work, setting out priorities for reform for the ISC. The discussion paper by the International Science Council, explores the vital role of publishing in the global network of scientific ideas and information. It addresses the shortcomings of the current system from numerous angles, and proposes a transformative vision for the future."

The Imperative of Reforming Scientific Publishing

2023-11-29T09:51:30-05:00

The Imperative of Reforming Scientific Publishing

Works of International Science Council on Scientific Publishing Reforms. "In 2021, during their General Assembly, ISC members adopted eight key principles essential for the future of scientific publishing."

Indian researchers paid $17mn to publish in open access journals in 2020 — 57% of global total

2023-11-28T04:18:45-05:00

Indian researchers paid $17mn to publish in open access journals in 2020 — 57% of global total

"Indian researchers paid a whopping $17 million in 2020 to publish their research articles in open access formats, with over 80 percent of it going to commercial publishers including MDPI, Springer Nature and Elsevier, a new study has revealed."

Publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

2023-11-28T04:25:03-05:00

Publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

"Article processing charges (APCs) ensure the financial viability of open access (OA) scholarly journals. The present study analyses the number of gold OA articles published in the Web of Science (WoS)- indexed journals by Indian researchers during 2020, including subject categories that account for the highest APC in India. Besides, it evaluates the amount of APC expenditure incurred in India. The findings of this study reveal that Indian researchers published 26,127 gold OA articles across all subjects in WoS-indexed journals in 2020. Researchers in the field of health and medical sciences paid the highest APC, amounting to USD 7 million, followed by life and earth sciences (USD 6.9 million), multidisciplinary (USD 4.9 million), and chemistry and materials science (USD 4.8 million). The study also reveals that Indian researchers paid an estimated 17 million USD as APC in 2020. Furthermore, 81% of APCs went to commercial publishers, viz. MDPI, Springer–Nature, Elsevier and Frontier Media. As there is a growing number of OA publications from India, we suggest having a central and state-level single-window option for funding in OA journals and backing the Plan S initiative for OA publishing in India".

IOP Publishing and Manipal Academy of Higher | EurekAlert!

2023-11-24T07:09:57-05:00

IOP Publishing and Manipal Academy of Higher | EurekAlert!

"IOP Publishing (IOPP) and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India have finalised a Read and Publish agreement as they work towards breaking down barriers to publishing open access (OA) for researchers from lower and lower middle-income countries."

Open science round-up: October 2023 - International Science Council

2023-10-27T11:44:40-04:00

Open science round-up: October 2023 - International Science Council

"The October 2023 Open Science Roundup is dedicated to International Open Access Week, a yearly celebration endorsing open access (OA) to scholarly output and creating a more equitable knowledge society. This month, we hear from Ginny Hendricks from Crossref on Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)".

OA Week 2023 Lecture MetaROR: Meta Research Open Review – DST Center for Policy Research

2023-10-19T05:31:32-04:00

OA Week 2023 Lecture MetaROR: Meta Research Open Review – DST Center for Policy Research

"The DST-Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Indian Young Academy of Science (INYAS), JSD Tata Library, IISc, and Centre for Society & Policy, IISc are thrilled to announce a special lecture in celebration of the International Open Access Week 2023. Marking the seventh year in celebrating the international open access week by CPR at IISc, we are excited to invite you to the lecture titled “MetaROR: MetaResearch Open Review” aligned with this year’s theme ” Community Over Commercialization”. The lecture is focused on the “MetaROR” Platform- a community endeavor.

Celebrating its fifteenth year, the International Open Access Week stands as a global testimony to the movement for open access and open science. It aims to cultivate discussions and foster a broader embrace of open science as the standard in academia and research. Originally launched in 2007 as Open Access Day, a collaboration between SPARC and U.S. students, it has since expanded into an international phenomenon with events worldwide. This year’s theme, “Community Over Commercialization”, seeks to spotlight the pivotal role of the community in championing scholarly publishing, which is grappling with serious issues and needs urgent reforms.

This year’s event is even more special for DST-CPR as we are collaborating with the Indian Young Academy of Science (INYAS) to broaden the research community’s participation in this important discussion. Researchers worldwide grapple with the “publish or perish” dilemma, leading some to fall into predatory journal traps. The issue is especially severe in the developing world. Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), INYAS has joined hands with three other international science academies: Bangladesh, Benin, and the Czech Republic. DST-CPR is the knowledge partner of this project. One of the missions of the project is to push for change at the highest levels to safeguard academic quality and integrity. What’s better than to discuss the way forward for the scientific community during Open Access week."

Roadmap to improve Ethics in Science and Curb prEdatory publishing (RESCUE)-An IAP Consortium among India, Bangladesh, Benin and Czech Republic. – INYAS

2023-09-30T09:01:32-04:00

Roadmap to improve Ethics in Science and Curb prEdatory publishing (RESCUE)-An IAP Consortium among India, Bangladesh, Benin and Czech Republic. – INYAS

"Researchers worldwide grapple with the “publish or perish” dilemma, leading some to fall into predatory journal traps. The issue is especially severe in the developing world. But we have some good news to share. Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) INYAS has joined hands with other three international science academies i.e. Bangladesh, Benin, and the Czech Republicto form a consortium. The consortium has received fund support of 50,000 USD from InterAcademy Partnership. Our mission is to create awareness and unite against predatory publishing practices and push for change at the highest levels to safeguard academic quality and integrity"

Open science round-up: September 2023 - International Science Council

2023-09-28T12:59:49-04:00

Open science round-up: September 2023 - International Science Council

"In this September edition of the ISC Open Science Roundup, Heather Joseph explores the pivotal role of Open Science in achieving this universal access to information, while Moumita Koley provides the latest news and opportunities to keep you updated with everything happening in the world of Open Science."

Is the Tide Turing in Favour of Universal and Equitable Open Access? - International Science Council

2023-08-09T02:33:50-04:00

Is the Tide Turing in Favour of Universal and Equitable Open Access? - International Science Council

"The current scientific publishing system is not prepared to evolve accordingly. With so many advancements in digital technologies, why stick to an outmoded system which is hindering the progress of science? The International Science Council (ISC) recognized the urgency of reforming the entire publishing system. Based on an analysis in the ISC position paper: Opening the Record of Science: making scholarly publishing work for science in the digital Era, the ISC steering group established 8-core principles as guiding concepts to maintain integrity and ensure an equitable and universally accessible system."

"Preprints present an opportunity for a fairer, more transparent, and streamlined approach to disseminating research. As the concept of preprints continues to evolve, it’s becoming increasingly evident that they could become the way forward for academic publishing if the research community takes on the responsibility of ensuring rigorous validation and is credited in the research assessment process as the legitimate output."

For India’s scientists, academic publishing has become a double-edged sword - The Hindu

2023-07-20T09:04:26-04:00

For India’s scientists, academic publishing has become a double-edged sword - The Hindu

As India restructures its science governance with the recently approved National Research Foundation, the national scientific enterprise can be a leading voice for accessible, equitable, and fiscally responsible research publishing.

India has lost its way on open access

2023-06-15T08:41:04-04:00

India has lost its way on open access

This article highlights the lucrative nature of the STM publishing industry, the inequities caused by paywalls, the need for greater adoption of open-access principles, and the complexities surrounding efforts to improve access to scientific research in India. While a global open access (OA) movement has gained traction, India still needs to catch up in embracing OA, despite early initiatives. Efforts to negotiate a common subscription through the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme with global STM publishers face challenges and may not align with the principles of OA.

Did a ‘nasty’ publishing scheme help an Indian dental school win high rankings? | Science | AAAS

2023-06-08T07:46:56-04:00

Did a ‘nasty’ publishing scheme help an Indian dental school win high rankings? | Science | AAAS

Saveetha Dental College in Chennai, India, incentivizes undergraduate students to write research manuscripts, a practice resulting in over 1,400 scholarly works published by the school in a single year. However, an investigation by Retraction Watch revealed that these papers often systematically cite other works by Saveetha faculty, inflating citation metrics to boost the institution's global reputation. Officials at the college deny knowledge of any concerted effort to use self-citation to enhance their standing, though external observers criticize the strategy as misleading and potentially harmful. Concerns also extend beyond self-citation, with critics pointing to the questionable quality of undergraduate research and the coercive nature of pressuring students to publish for the institution's benefit.

Indian PhDs, professors are paying to publish in real-sounding, fake journals. It's a racket

2023-04-24T11:25:50-04:00

Indian PhDs, professors are paying to publish in real-sounding, fake journals. It's a racket

This newspaper article describes the publishing behavior of a large section of Indian researchers who publish their research in predatory journals. Pressure to publish, lack of awareness, and career progression are some of the reasons.

Drawing Lines to Cross Them: How Publishers are Moving Beyond Established Norms - The Scholarly Kitchen

2023-04-21T10:47:29-04:00

Drawing Lines to Cross Them: How Publishers are Moving Beyond Established Norms - The Scholarly Kitchen

This blog post discusses how the Scholarly Publishing Industry is overstepping its self-imposed boundaries and sometimes showing a biased approach in choosing which issues to address and how to address them.

India to pitch for open access to research among G20 countries: PSA Sood

2023-03-26T08:34:24-04:00

India to pitch for open access to research among G20 countries: PSA Sood

India will pitch for the interlinking of the national archives of G-20 countries to make scientific papers published by researchers accessible freely at the G-20 chief scientific advisors meeting.

Transformative Agreement Signed between the Microbiology Society and Indian Institute of Science Bangalore | Microbiology Society

2023-03-17T06:57:01-04:00

Transformative Agreement Signed between the Microbiology Society and Indian Institute of Science Bangalore | Microbiology Society

The Microbiology Society and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore have signed a transformative Publish and Read agreement starting in 2023. This is the Microbiology Society’s first agreement in India.

Exploring the Current Practices in Research Assessment within Indian Academia | DORA

2023-02-17T10:29:57-05:00

Exploring the Current Practices in Research Assessment within Indian Academia | DORA

This report explores the research assessment practices of Indian funding agencies, universities and institutes of national importance.

Delhi High Court Rejects Sci-Hub Founder's Application Seeking Rejection Of Plaint By Publishers In Copyright Infringement Suit

2023-02-17T09:57:43-05:00

Delhi High Court Rejects Sci-Hub Founder's Application Seeking Rejection Of Plaint By Publishers In Copyright Infringement Suit

Update on the Sci-Hub case at Delhi High Court, India.

What HC battle between big publishers & 'rogue' websites could mean for free access to research

2023-02-15T03:53:59-05:00

What HC battle between big publishers & 'rogue' websites could mean for free access to research

Updates on the ongoing Sci-Hub case in the Delhi high court, India.

Return of the Big Deal: Developments in Texas and India - The Scholarly Kitchen

2023-01-10T07:09:11-05:00

Return of the Big Deal: Developments in Texas and India - The Scholarly Kitchen

This blog post discusses the new "big deals" for journal subscriptions. One example is the deal between Elsevier and 44 universities in Texas (operating as the Texas Library Coalition for United Action. It also discusses the "One Nation One Subscription" proposal of Govt. of India for a nationwide subscription deal to facilitate access to journal articles.

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT IN INDIA: WHAT SHOULD STAY, WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

2022-12-14T01:52:35-05:00

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT IN INDIA: WHAT SHOULD STAY, WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

This is a workshop report. It describes certain features of research assessment practices in India and how researchers from different institutes view research assessments in their context. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current practices?

Open Research Data for India: Exploring Infrastructure and Governance

2022-12-14T01:43:29-05:00

Open Research Data for India: Exploring Infrastructure and Governance

This policy brief talks about the requirements of an open data policy for research in India. It explores the challenges and opportunities for open research data in the Indian context.

Ministry sets ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ deal deadline

2022-12-14T01:37:35-05:00

Ministry sets ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ deal deadline

The Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, announces the One Nation, One Subscription plan.

Technological innovations in scientific journals: the shape of things to come - Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology

2022-05-30T01:47:15-04:00

Technological innovations in scientific journals: the shape of things to come - Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology

This article discusses the rapid change in scholarly publishing and problems in harnessing many technological advances in the scholarly publishing space. "One movement that is a corollary to open access is to facilitate technology for having an open infrastructure for metadata. One example is DataCite, which is a global not-for-profit membership organization that provides open infrastructure to identify, find, cite, connect and use research. It is quite similar to other open infrastructure research organizations like are CrossRef, ORCID etc. Where it differs from the latter is in its focus beyond published articles to include all the underlying information that is available, as well as a mechanism to easily link to the experimental design, the research data and the analytical tools that were used to generate the reported outcomes...."

Changing dynamics of scholarly publication: a perspective towards open access publishing and the proposed one nation, one subscription policy of India

2022-04-29T02:07:56-04:00

Changing dynamics of scholarly publication: a perspective towards open access publishing and the proposed one nation, one subscription policy of India

Abstract: In the midst of the most widely used subscription-based publishing model, open access publishing is gaining a foothold in the publishing world. India, as one of the world’s leading producers of scientific information, has seen a considerable escalation in the production of open access knowledge content, which has sparked a scholarly debate towards the availability and accessibility of scholarly knowledge to all. Despite the fact that two major science funding agencies of India, the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology, adopted an open access policy in 2014 to promote green open access to articles produced from publicly financed research projects, academic content still remains out of reach for everyone due to inadequate planning and implementation. Recently the Government of India has proposed a “one nation, one subscription” (ONOS) policy to make scholarly knowledge more accessible to Indian citizens. The study’s primary goal is to look into the open-access situation across many subject groups in India and globally. The aim is to understand whether a blanket subscription policy is the best way to facilitate the accessibility of scholarly knowledge or if subject-specific needs implications of other global OA initiatives are worth considering when implementing the ONOS policy.

Digital platform for open and equitable sharing of scholarly knowledge in India

2022-04-07T00:03:28-04:00

Digital platform for open and equitable sharing of scholarly knowledge in India

This article explores the possibilities of launching an open-access digital publishing platform in India. The authors have analyzed the existing open-source technologies like Open Journal System (OJS) and compared them with proprietary models like Editorial Manager to understand the gaps and explore avenues to conceive a cost-effective digital publishing platform. Hopefully the open-access digital publishing platform will help the Indian journals upgrade their publishing systems up to the international standard, if not better, and help researchers explore a non-commercial avenue to publish open access articles.

Open Access in South Asia | Policy Dialogue

2022-03-21T00:56:23-04:00

Open Access in South Asia | Policy Dialogue

What is the Open Access movement and what is South Asia doing about it? Join our discussion on 26th March at 7 pm to know more about Open Access in South Asia from leading experts: Prof. Devika Madalli, Dr Haseeb Irfanullah, Ms Anubha Sinha

Sci-Hub Case: Delhi High Court Rejects Researchers’ Plea Seeking Impleadment In Infringement Proceedings

2022-02-20T00:34:52-05:00

Sci-Hub Case: Delhi High Court Rejects Researchers’ Plea Seeking Impleadment In Infringement Proceedings

This article reports a recent development of the ongoing court case between Sci-Hub and Libgen and three publishers, Elsevier Ltd, Wiley India Pvt Ltd, and the American Chemical Society. The Delhi High Court has rejected an application filed by three researchers seeking impleadment in the ongoing infringement proceedings.

Are journal archiving and embargo policies impeding the success of India's open access policy? - Koley - - Learned Publishing - Wiley Online Library

2022-01-06T23:58:01-05:00

Are journal archiving and embargo policies impeding the success of India's open access policy? - Koley - - Learned Publishing - Wiley Online Library

Abstract: India's primary science funding agencies, the Department of Science & Technology, and the Department of Biotechnology (DST & DBT) together formulated an open access (OA) policy in 2014. This policy mandates immediate self-archival of research articles generated from publicly funded research across all the institutions in suitable repositories. But with inadequate infrastructure and awareness, the OA mandate did not flourish as expected. This paper aims to understand whether journal policies impede the prospect of DST-DBT OA policy and the possible routes to achieve policy compliance. The analysis presented in this paper tracks down the journal self-archiving policies of the top 50 popular journals (among Indian authors) from each of the six STEM fields—Biology, Chemistry, Clinical-Medicine, Engineering, Materials science, and Physics. The results show that most journals have an embargo of 12–24 months on self-archiving of the post-print (final author version after peer-review), which contradicts the DST-DBT OA mandate. The study also reveals that hybrid journals dominate, and article processing charges craft a new form of inequity for Indian STEM researchers. We expect that these findings will be helpful for the funding agencies to restructure their policies, and negotiate with journal publishers to resolve the contradictions.

The rise of the platform economy and access to educational resources | ORF

2021-12-18T21:57:39-05:00

The rise of the platform economy and access to educational resources | ORF

This article discusses the changing dimensions of publishing in recent times and the rise of open and closed Edu-Tech ventures in India. The author's argument is inclined towards a balance between access to knowledge and publishers' right, protection of IP, and copyright.

What Sci-Hub’s latest court battle means for research

2021-12-13T22:56:36-05:00

What Sci-Hub’s latest court battle means for research

The legal battle between the American Chemical Society, Elsevier, and Wiley at Delhi High Court, India against Sci-Hub is on."Delhi court will scrutinize whether the pirate paper website falls foul of India’s copyright law." According to legal experts, the list of exemptions in India’s Copyright Act of 1957, under "Fair dealing", might favour Sci-Hub.

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For Alexandra Elbakyan's response to this article, see her tweet from December 14, 2021. The response is apparently available no where else.

https://twitter.com/ringo_ring/status/1470815566160179201

An era of open science | Deccan Herald

2021-11-22T11:53:11-05:00

An era of open science | Deccan Herald

Why Open Science is important. Some recent developments in Open Science. Relevance of Open science in the Indian context.

Open access—is it the way forward? | SpringerLink

2021-11-22T10:57:32-05:00

Open access—is it the way forward? | SpringerLink

This article discusses why transparency and regulation of publication of OA journals are important to consider in the backdrop of predatory OA journals.

Open Access Week 2021 - YouTube

2021-11-03T13:06:18-04:00

Open Access Week 2021 - YouTube

OA week 2021 Event ( at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India) Video on Youtube.

Speakers:

1) Prof. Padmanabhan Balaram (on Arunachalam's work on Scientometrics and OA)

2) Ms. Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) ( on “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” )

3) Prof. Leslie Chan, University of Toronto at Scarborough (on “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” )

International Open Access Week-2021 – DST Center for Policy Research

2021-10-25T03:13:48-04:00

International Open Access Week-2021 – DST Center for Policy Research

DST-CPR IISc is organizing an event to celebrate the Internation OA week 2021 on 29th October at 7:30 PM (IST), 2:00 PM (GMT), 10 AM (EDT). This year's event is special since it is being held in honor of Prof. Subbia Arunachalam, a champion of the OA movement in India, who turned 80 in September 2021. The speakers of the event are- renowned Indian scientist P. Balaram, Heather Joseph ( executive director, SPARC), and Leslie Chan (University of Toronto).

Global Initiative to Rapidly Develop a Safe, Globally Accessible and Affordable COVID-19 Antiviral Pill - Technology & Applications | Weizmann Wonder Wander - News, Features and Discoveries

2021-10-08T00:22:00-04:00

Global Initiative to Rapidly Develop a Safe, Globally Accessible and Affordable COVID-19 Antiviral Pill - Technology & Applications | Weizmann Wonder Wander - News, Features and Discoveries

The world's largest COVID-19 drug discovery effort from Weizmann Institute received funding from the Wellcome Trust. This project is aimed at developing open-source drugs to counter the inequality that we saw during vaccine development.

Sci-Hub: Journals Must Stop Exploiting Research for Profits - The Wire Science

2021-10-06T11:47:12-04:00

Sci-Hub: Journals Must Stop Exploiting Research for Profits - The Wire Science

We can’t allow certain corporations to broker research across institutions with colossal profit margins erected on the back of work conducted by researchers. What researchers need as a right in India is complete, paywall-free access to every paper published everywhere. Governments can’t entirely leave the research-publishing and dissemination enterprise entirely in the hands of for-profit journals alone, Raja Singh writes.

How Indian lawyers, scientists gave Sci-Hub its first legal defence team

2021-09-20T13:29:00-04:00

How Indian lawyers, scientists gave Sci-Hub its first legal defence team

This article talks about the legal case against Sci-Hub in the Delhi high court, India, and how the Indian science ecosystem came up with a legal team for the first time to argue on behalf of "Sci-Hub" in the Delhi high court.

Copyright Ownership in State Board Textbooks: Impediments to Accessibility | SpicyIP

2021-07-03T02:20:25-04:00

This article talks about the complex copyright policies adopted by Indian state education boards while releasing textbooks and the effects of such policies on accessibility.

OSF Preprints | Digital Technologies for Open and Equitable Sharing of Scholarly Knowledge in India

2021-05-05T10:54:18-04:00

OSF Preprints | Digital Technologies for Open and Equitable Sharing of Scholarly Knowledge in India

This article explores the possibilities of an open digital publishing platform for scholarly publishing in India and how that can help in counter predatory publishing.

Engineer position in the Valda team

2020-11-03T08:56:43-05:00

Engineer position in the Valda team

Valda is hiring an engineer to work on the Dissemin platfom for a two-year position at École normale supérieure. Dissemin is a tool to detect research articles behind paywalls and to help their authors upload them in an open repository. Dissemin is an open-source project with various contributors, organized as a non-profit.

Profile of the candidate

The applicant should be familiar with or ready to learn the following technologies:

the Python programming language;
the Django Web application framework;
the PostgreSQL database management system;
RESTful Web APIs;
processing of large datasets.

The applicant should be familiar with an open-source development workflow (basics of Git, merge requests, proficiency in technical English) and willing and interested to work in an academic environment on a project related to academic publishing. The candidate should be able to work autonomously, in interaction with a remote team of developers.

The applicant should hold a Master or engineering diploma in a field related to computer science or computer engineering. Candidates holding a PhD on a relevant topic are also welcome, with the experience of the PhD recognized and useful for the project.

The applicant need not be French-speaking.

Tasks

The role of the engineer will be to turn Dissemin from a proof-of-concept work into a production-ready tool, in particular to be used by French researchers to help them deposit their works on open-access platforms, as required by their employers or funders. Some specific tasks include:

day-to-day management of the Dissemin platform and bug fixing;
integration of Crossref and BASE data, in connection with HAL;
optimization of the data ingestion from Crossref and BASE;
possible migration of the platform to a different hosting and architecture;
interaction with the Valda research team on subjects related to the analysis of the scientific corpus (e.g., possible co-supervision of Master’s students).

Work conditions

The engineer will be hosted at École normale supérieure in the 5th district of Paris and employed by ENS on a one-year contract renewable once, for a total planned duration of two years.

For a full-time position, the work week is 37.5 hours (flexible hours), with 49 vacation days yearly; part-time positions can be discussed. The engineer will work under the supervision of the head of the Valda team, Pierre Senellart. The salary will follow the ENS salary scale for technical employees (typically 26 to 36 k€ gross yearly salary depending on experience and degree).

The position is expected to start at the earliest in June 2021 and at the latest in January 2022.

Work environment

The work will be conducted within a dynamic research team, also in interaction with the PRAIRIE institute for artificial intelligence research in Paris. The engineer will be encouraged to participate in the life of the team (research seminars, discussions with PhD candidates and researchers, etc.). This position can also serve as a gateway for applicants considering a PhD thesis in related areas. All development will be open-source. Contributing to third-party open-source projects useful to Dissemin is also encouraged.

Diversity

ENS is an equal-opportunity employer, with ENS and Dissemin committed to diversity and professional equality in terms of gender, handicap, and origin. For this reason, applicants need not mention any personal information (such as age, family situation, photo) on their application.

How to apply?

Candidates can submit their application (CV, motivation letter, references, link to past projects) as a single PDF document to hiring@dissem.in. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis. Early applications are recommended.

Sci-Hub Case: Academics Urge Court To Rule Against ‘Extortionate Practices’

2021-04-08T00:16:18-04:00

Sci-Hub Case: Academics Urge Court To Rule Against ‘Extortionate Practices’

A piece of News about the signed a statement by urging the Delhi high court to rule against three publishers that have petitioned the court to have access to Sci-Hub and Libgen blocked in India.

OSF | Social Dimensions of Copyright Infringement and Enforcement.pdf

2021-02-17T06:21:47-05:00

OSF | Social Dimensions of Copyright Infringement and Enforcement.pdf

Discussion on the case against Sci-Hub in India from the copyright law point of view.

Science Policy, Competition and Profits

2021-02-07T00:07:25-05:00

Science Policy, Competition and Profits

How much India is spending on journal subscriptions? how difficult is it for Indians to access publicly funded research? A nationwide subscription proposal comes with a lot of financial and moral baggage.

Symposium on Research and Evaluation in Humanities and Social Sciences

2021-01-16T00:21:24-05:00

Symposium on Research and Evaluation in Humanities and Social Sciences

How humanities and social science research is done in India.

Why Indian researchers oppose efforts to have a pirate website banned

2020-12-25T23:42:16-05:00

Why Indian researchers oppose efforts to have a pirate website banned

An article on the lawsuit filed by Wiley, Elsevier, and ACS again Sci-Hub at Delhi High Court, India.

No new articles on Sci Hub, Libgen till Jan 6 over copyright infringement: Delhi HC - india news - Hindustan Times

2020-12-25T23:43:51-05:00

No new articles on Sci Hub, Libgen till Jan 6 over copyright infringement: Delhi HC - india news - Hindustan Times

Update on the lawsuit filed by Wiley, Elsevier, and ACS again Sci-Hub at Delhi High Court, India.

Sci-Hub Case: The Court Should Protect Science From Greedy Academic Publishers

2020-12-22T01:38:02-05:00

Sci-Hub Case: The Court Should Protect Science From Greedy Academic Publishers

This article describes the possible lines of arguments that might help in understanding the legal positions of the parties in the present case against Sci-hub at the Delhi high court filed by Elsevier and Wiley.

Open access: A problem way beyond one nation one subscription

2020-12-14T02:03:35-05:00

Open access: A problem way beyond one nation one subscription

An opinion piece about OA in the Times of India newspaper.

Muthu Madhan: ‘One nation one subscription’ is an elusive goal

2020-12-13T01:25:30-05:00

Muthu Madhan: ‘One nation one subscription’ is an elusive goal

An interview by OA scholar from India Mr. Madhan Muthu about OA in India.

» Plenary Session 1: International Open Science in 2020

2020-12-08T11:59:44-05:00

» Plenary Session 1: International Open Science in 2020

"2020 could prove a pivotal year for Open Science and the transformation of research practice, scholarly communications and the stewardship of research data. The challenges and opportunities of the digital revolution have been evident for some time and the influence of technological and societal transformations can be detected in research and communication practice in a number of domains. For a number of years, certain research funders on the one hand and certain research communities on the other have advocated improved data stewardship through the FAIR principles and more open data and scholarly practices.

Through the European Open Science Cloud and the adoption of data management plans and the FAIR principles, the European Commission has been for a number of years a strenuous advocate of Open Science for good research practice and as a driver of innovation. The International Science Council’s Action Plan gives prominence to digital transformations and Open Science as epochal issues for global scientific coordination. UNESCO is preparing an international standard-setting instrument in the form of a Recommendation on Open Science, for approval at the 2021 General Assembly. By drawing attention to the need for international cooperation, real time data sharing and rigorous scientific transparency the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the convergence of Open Science and FAIR data...."

Is Copyright a Hindrance for Open Access in India? | SpicyIP

2020-11-20T01:55:55-05:00

Is Copyright a Hindrance for Open Access in India? | SpicyIP

discussions on relinquishment of copyring under Indian copyright laws.

Open Access 2020 Access, Equality and Cognitive Justice – DST Center for Policy Research

2020-11-19T12:03:19-05:00

Open Access 2020 Access, Equality and Cognitive Justice – DST Center for Policy Research

Discussions on alternative modes of publishing and research evaluation- By Jean-Claude Guedon.

Open Access 2020 Is Copyright a Hindrance for Open Access in India? – DST Center for Policy Research

2020-11-19T12:00:56-05:00

Open Access 2020 Is Copyright a Hindrance for Open Access in India? – DST Center for Policy Research

Discussions on Indian Copyright law and Open Access- By Anubha Sinha and Arul G. Scaria

Open Access 2020 Equity and inclusion in global open access scholarly communications – DST Center for Policy Research

2020-10-24T10:59:28-04:00

Open Access 2020 Equity and inclusion in global open access scholarly communications – DST Center for Policy Research

"Equity and inclusion in global open access scholarly communications need more South-South dialogue and cooperation; perspective from Latin America experience." By Dominique Babini and Arianna Becerril Garcia.

Level the playing field for science in the global South

2021-12-07T00:53:21-05:00

Level the playing field for science in the global South

Community engagement, open access, and equitable partnerships will strengthen science in developing countries.