In a heartening move for researchers across the country, the government of India proposed an Open Science Framework in its Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) policy draft, released earlier this month. The draft proposal, if sanctioned, will make all scientific data and resources freely available to all.
The draft STI Policy aims to create a future-ready India, provide an impetus to indigenous research and strengthen the country’s role in global science. And it plans to bring this plan to fruition through a series of short-, mid- and long-term projects that will change how India reads and conducts research. The most important part of this broad framework is the ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ plan, where the government of India will initiate discussions with global journal publishers to access published research. This single centralized subscription will replace existing individual institutional subscriptions and ensure all Indians have free open access to published scientific research.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has also offered to establish an STI Observatory, which will function as a central repository for all kinds of data that results from India’s scientific research activities. In the draft STI policy, it also proposes making ‘green open access’ mandatory, whereby research produced in Indian publicly funded institutions is made accessible to all, free of charge, on publication. Content will be made available under the Fair, Accessible, Interoperable & Reusable (FAIR) conditions, where any data that includes copyright or sensitive information will be redacted or suitably anonymized. Where data cannot be released to the public, a system will be put in place to allow authorized scientists access to this information.
The forward-thinking draft STI policy aims at the democratization of science through open access, training, infrastructure development, equality and inclusion at all levels of scientific research. This includes a stipulation that women make up at least 30% of all decision-making bodies, and allowances General Financial Rules to be modified or waived off for research projects of national importance. Other key aspects discussed in the draft call for a lateral recruitment of professionals and subject matter experts in ministries, improving the quality of Indian journals with a focus on avoiding ‘fake’ research being published. Combined, these initiatives are expected to help promote scientific temper by making it easy to encourage innovation at the grass root level and conduct research within the country.
In a keynote address, Professor Ashutosh Sharma, the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, said the draft STI policy echoed the ideas mentioned in the National Education Policy 2020, which aims to support transdisciplinary research in India. A collaborative effort by academics, scientists and policymakers, the draft draws on the incredible scientific breakthroughs last year made possible by unrestricted access to the best of research on the COVID-19 pandemic to push for national open access. This ambitious draft STI policy has been designed with a vision to make India self-reliant in science and technology and cement its place among the top three scientific superpowers.
And this goal seems within reach. Data from the US’s National Science Foundation (NSF) puts India third in terms of scientific publications, after China and the US, with a 12.9% growth in the number of papers published against the world average of 4.9%. Here, ensuring free and open access to peer-reviewed scientific research, along with changes in funding and fair representation, can help win back researchers, many of whom are choosing opportunities beyond academia due to a lack of funding or research avenues.
On the other hand, this draft policy also offers welcome support to academic institutions, many of which struggle to keep up with the often exorbitant subscription fees charged by high-impact scientific journals. For those who depend on institutional subscriptions for access to scientific research, the move to unlock pay-walled peer reviewed scientific content is a life-changing event. However, bringing this vision to life will need concerted effort at all levels and the success of this policy lies mainly in how well the government negotiates with top journal publishers. This may be a problem given the copyright infringement suit launched by leading publishers, who are looking to block the free flow of pay-walled research in India.
The draft STI policy was released on January 1, 2021 and the final draft of this policy is expected to be sanctioned in the first half of 2021.
