Read interviews from scientists, authors, and educators in India, in which they share insights on the evolving open access landscape and the future of scholarly publishing.

Every year, ACS Publications come together to celebrate International Open Access Week. This year’s theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?” asks a pointed question about the present moment and how, in a time of disruption, communities can reassert control over the knowledge they produce.
ACS Publications has a long history of championing open science, developing efficient workflows, and working as a trusted partner to help authors and institutions achieve their open access publishing goals.
We welcome you to learn more about the open access options available to authors at ACS Publications. We also offer a dedicated open access microsite featuring free articles, making it easy for you to access valuable research and insights without any barriers.
For the researcher community, the week is an opportunity to celebrate impactful insights and contributions through discussions on the experience of open science, especially surrounding the evolving landscape of scholarly publishing in the age of artificial intelligence.
In addition to the content below, we invite you to join ACS Publications for "Open Science Essentials," a series of webinars exploring open science. Registration is free—learn more and register today.
Read Insights and Perspectives from the Scientific Community in India
Hear perspectives from authors, researchers, and educators in India as they share their thoughts on the current landscape of open access and contemplate the direction to chart for the future.
Prof. Ankona Datta

Prof. Datta received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 2000. She did her graduate work on chiral water soluble porphyrins for catalysis and recognition with Prof. John T. Groves at Princeton University (Ph.D., 2006). After graduating from Princeton she joined as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Prof. Ken Raymond at the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked on macromolecular MRI contrast agents. Since 2010 she is a faculty in the Department of Chemical Science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India. Her current research interests are in the fields of Chemical Biology and Molecular Imaging. She is an Advisory Board member of ACS Sensors.
Ananth Govind Rajan

Ananth Govind Rajan is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science. He earned his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi and completed his M.S. and Ph.D. at MIT, followed by postdoctoral research at Princeton University. His research integrates quantum-mechanical and molecular simulations with machine learning to model nanomaterials for water splitting, CO2 reduction/capture, and membrane separations. He has received honors such as I&ECR’s Influential Researchers and IIT Delhi’s GOLD Award, and he is an Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Academy of Engineering. He serves on the Early Career Board of Nano Letters.
Prof. Binoy K. Saikia

Prof. Saikia is a Senior Principal Scientist at CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, and Professor at the Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research, India. He holds an MSc and PhD in Chemistry, is ranked among the top 2% Energy scientists and the Asian Scientist 100 (2021), and received Assam’s Civilian Award (2021) and the Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2021).
His work spans sustainable utilization of carbonaceous resources, carbon nanomaterials, atmospheric and environmental chemistry, and energy storage. He has around 200 publications and six patents, including Indian and US patents on coal‑derived blue‑fluorescent carbon quantum dots, alongside multiple technology transfers and invited talks.
Deepshikha Singh

Deepshikha Singh is a Research Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, specialising in RNA G-quadruplex structures in dysregulated long non-coding RNAs in ovarian cancer. She holds a Master’s in Biotechnology from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Bachelor’s in Microbiology from Fergusson College Pune, both with distinction. Her research integrates experimental and computational approaches to explore the role of RNA G-quadruplexes in cancer biology, their interactions with RNA-binding proteins, and their potential applications as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Her scientific contributions have been recognised with multiple travel grants and awards, including the Best Oral Presentation at the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Biological Sciences for Sustainable Well-being (IABSSW, 2025). She has presented at both national and international platforms, including the prestigious Gordon Research Conference on Nucleic Acids in Lucca, Italy. Along with her passion for research, Deepshikha is deeply enthusiastic about art and travel, which inspire creativity and broaden her perspective beyond academia.
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Webinars
Join ACS Publications for "Open Science Essentials," a series of webinars exploring open science. Registration is free—learn more and register today.