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.