Takshashila Policy Advisory - Making Publicly-funded Research Accessible to the Public

Executive Summary

A vast number of students, teachers, researchers and members of the public are unable to access research papers and data due to prohibitive terms imposed by publishers of international journals. We are in an unconscionable situation today where Indian taxpayer-funded research is unavailable to the Indian public because it is published in private foreign journals with restrictive copyright and subscription terms.

To make knowledge more inclusive, to make education more open and to promote globally competitive innovation, it is proposed that the Government of India institute a National Public Research Database and a family of Open Journals of India.

This is consistent with developments in the United States and elsewhere where the prohibitive nature of prices and conditions imposed by a small number of international publishing firms has been recognised as an inhibitor of innovation and knowledge diffusion.

Authors