National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC) was established in 2009, evolving from the CSIR E-Journals Consortium (2001).

Nodal Ministry

• NKRC is coordinated by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) through CSIR, under the Ministry of Science & Technology.

Coordinating Institution

• The consortium is administered by CSIR–National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR), which negotiates subscriptions and manages access to digital knowledge resources.

Objective

• NKRC aims to provide cost-effective and equitable access to high-quality scientific and technical information resources by enabling shared subscriptions among member institutions.

Resources Available

NKRC provides access to:

• Peer-reviewed e-journals
• E-books
• Citation and bibliographic databases
• Patent databases
• Standards and other scientific information resources.

Beneficiaries

• NKRC primarily caters to scientists, researchers, faculty members and students working in government-funded research and academic institutions.

Membership

NKRC has expanded to 82 member institutions, including organizations under:

• CSIR

• Department of Science & Technology (DST)
• Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)

Recent Expansion

• In July 2026, the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, joined NKRC through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), broadening the consortium’s institutional base.

Relation with One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)

• NKRC is one of the major pre-existing library consortia whose journal subscriptions are being integrated under the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative for nationwide access to scholarly literature.

Important Distinction