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

Commercial publishers demand exorbitant prices for the access of journal articles either through subscription or article processing charges. In this digital era, when the cost of publishing is negligible, and the peer review process is voluntary, it’s unreasonable to put such a high access barrier. Under these circumstances, the commercial publishers' oligopoly can be challenged using digital technologies. In this article, we have explored the idea of using next generation technologies for an accessible and equitable knowledge dissemination process. Such platforms will automate the processes of identification of reviewers, communicating reminders and feedback, assignment of new reviewers in case of no response within stipulated time, and so on. The review process and intervention of the editor will be done in a doubly blind process to ensure transparency reducing favouritism and predatory publishing. Finally, the article will be published in an open domain for anyone to read and reuse the content with proper attribution. Moreover, the manuscripts in their published form will be in an interactive form instead of a pdf format, with download options in various formats as well. The platform, integrated with India’s upcoming national STI observatory and INDSTA platform will be especially useful in making it an interactive repository of data and research evidence coming from all parts of the country. We believe the platform will be especially beneficial for young scholars and researchers in Tier II and Tier III institutions, and independent researchers who are most likely to fall prey to predatory publishers. This is a perspective paper on the possibilities of integrating advanced technologies in academic publishing to make research findings open access and reduce the financial burdens of publishing on authors, and to initiate a larger discussion on the technical details of the process.