SocialJustice forum Goel DG Sharma – Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Decolonizing Knowledge Systems: Open Access in the Indian Context

Nikita Goel | E.L.A. Project | ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6340-7740

Sharanya DG | E.L.A. Project | ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3927-8984

Abhishek Sharma | University of Delhi

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Publication: Social Justice Special Issue

Abstract | Open Access (OA) began with the promise of a more equitable approach to sharing knowledge through increased scholarly communication, changing the ways in which research can be disseminated and accessed. Its initial intent defied the privileging of knowledge as it presented alternatives to traditional subscription models of journal publication that sustained inequality, since these models allow only elite institutions to afford exhaustive research databases, thereby widening the gap between large and small institutions, developed and developing economies, as well as rich and poor nations. Against such traditional models, Open Access offered a level playing field to all, not only benefitting the readers, but also the researchers participating in it, a fact often overlooked in the discussions surrounding this movement. Within the academic community, the production of knowledge through research gains credibility only when it is validated by the scholarly use of the work, a process for which quantitative models of assessing credibility have been created. The reformation of knowledge-disseminating systems assured global visibility to authors from diverse geographical regions across all classes by tearing down the prohibitive barriers of cost and copyright.

Key words | Open Access (OA), Knowledge Systems, Academic Publishing, Global South, Eurocentrism, OA in India, Digital Literacy, Equity, Democratization, Decolonization, Epistemic Delinking

Nikita Goel (nikita.goel@ellids.com) is an editor of the Diamond OA journal Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies (LLIDS), having co-founded it 9 years ago. She also leads E.L.A. Project (Education and Liberal Arts Project), the publisher of LLIDS, which was instituted in light of the need to re-structure the current educational and research scenario in India. Her work with LLIDS and ELA Project has inspired her research on Open Access and has cultivated a practice-based approach to work on OA policy-making and sustainability as well as exploring its viability in the Indian subcontinent.

Sharanya DG (sharanya.dg@ellids.com; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3927-8984) is an Assistant Editor at the Open Access academic journal, Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies (LLIDS). She holds a Masters degree in Contemporary Literature and Culture from Birkbeck, University of London, where her dissertation focused on the forms of literary resistance in contemporary feminist Dalit fiction. She completed her undergraduation from Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, India with a major in English and minors in Anthropology and Philosophy. She has previously taught academic reading and writing at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. Through her engagement with research, Sharanya hopes to continue exploring the intricate ways in which our cultural and political lives entangle with literature.

Abhishek Sharma (abhishek.sharma@sgndkc.du.ac.in) is an Associate Professor at Delhi University, India. His career extends over thirty-three years at Delhi University. He holds a Ph.D. in the hermeneutical study of Valmiki’s Ramayana. His specialization lies in the comparative analysis of Western and Indian literature, particularly focusing on the epic traditions of Ancient India and Greece. His research is deeply rooted in cross-cultural hermeneutics, aiming to connect Indian and Western traditions to illuminate the origins of epics and to explore the foundations of Greek tragedy alongside its distinct Indian counterpart, influenced by Bharata’s theory of Rasas. Furthermore, Dr. Sharma is engaged in the study of Enlightenment philosophy, the Romantic tradition, and German Idealism. He employs an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach in his teaching, integrating philosophy, popular culture, and modern performance.

MLA Citation for this Article:

Goel, Nikita, et al. “Decolonizing Knowledge Systems: Open Access in the Indian Context.” Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies, Social Justice Special Issue, 31 Dec. 2025, pp. 1.41–1.46, https://doi.org/10.71106/DKRP7781.