[BOAI] The university-wide OA mandate at MIT

[Peter Suber]

[Forwarding from Hal Abelson, professor of computer science and engineering 
at MIT.  --Peter Suber.]


MIT Faculty Open-Access Policy

Passed by Unanimous of the Faculty, March 18, 2009

The Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is committed to 
disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as 
possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following 
policy: Each Faculty member grants to the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology nonexclusive permission to make available his or her scholarly 
articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles for the purpose of 
open dissemination. In legal terms, each Faculty member grants to MIT a 
nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and 
all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly 
articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a 
profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy will apply to 
all scholarly articles written while the person is a member of the Faculty 
except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and 
any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible 
licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The 
Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the policy for a 
particular article upon written notification by the author, who informs MIT 
of the reason.

To assist the Institute in distributing the scholarly articles, as of the 
date of publication, each Faculty member will make available an electronic 
copy of his or her final version of the article at no charge to a 
designated representative of the Provost's Office in appropriate formats 
(such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office.

The Provost's Office will make the scholarly article available to the 
public in an open- access repository. The Office of the Provost, in 
consultation with the Faculty Committee on the Library System will be 
responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its 
interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty.

The policy is to take effect immediately; it will be reviewed after five 
years by the Faculty Policy Committee, with a report presented to the Faculty.

The Faculty calls upon the Faculty Committee on the Library System to 
develop and monitor a plan for a service or mechanism that would render 
compliance with the policy as convenient for the faculty as possible.