Faculty Vote for Open Access
MIT faculty voted unanimously this spring to make their scholarly articles available free online. Under the new policy–the first faculty-driven, university-wide initiative of its kind in the United States–faculty authors give MIT nonexclusive permission to disseminate their journal articles for open access through DSpace, the open-source software platform developed by the MIT libraries and Hewlett-Packard. Authors may opt out on a paper-by-paper basis. “The vote is a signal to the world that we speak in a unified voice; that what we value is the free flow of ideas,” said Bish Sinyal, then chair of the MIT faculty. Today, authors of scholarly works are required to transfer all or most of their rights to publishers, who limit access to the works through licensing and charge universities increasingly high subscription rates for journals.
“Through this action, MIT faculty have shown great leadership in the promotion of free and open scholarly communication,” says MIT’s director of libraries, Ann Wolpert. “This will allow authors to advance research and education by making their research available to the world.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.