MIT Framework for Publisher Contracts

MIT recognizes that the value in published scholarship originates in the labor of authors, peer reviewers, and editors, and the institutions that support them.  The benefits to society are greatest when this scholarship is freely and immediately available to the entire world to access, read, and use; without restriction and for any lawful purpose.

As MIT continues to lead in transforming scholarly communications from a system focused primarily on paywalled journal articles towards a system providing open access to the products of the full research life-cycle, many MIT scholars continue to value the services provided by journals and journal publishers. Those services include, but are not limited to, editorial oversight, curation, and coordination of the submission and peer review processes. Increasingly, scholars also value the availability of scholarly content as a corpus that is stored, described, and accessible for non-consumptive, computational access and analysis.

The MIT Libraries seek to provide services that enhance the use, reuse, analysis, discovery, curation, and preservation of those outputs. In a rapidly evolving scholarly communications landscape, such services may be offered by commercial, non-profit, or community-owned platforms and resources. We will strive for a portfolio of services that meets the needs of our scholars, reflects core MIT principles and values, and advances the public good and the progress of science.

The MIT Framework for Publisher Contracts will guide our negotiations with publishers, in support of the following goals:

• Terms aligned with MIT’s mission, principles, and policies, as described in the 2019 recommendations of the Institute-wide task force on open access to MIT’s research.
• Terms that represent a fair and sustainable price for the value-added services provided by publishers.
• Terms that preserve and protect scholars’ and scholarly communities’ control over their own intellectual output.

The core principles of an MIT Framework for publisher contracts are:

• No author will be required to waive any institutional or funder open access policy to publish in any of the publisher’s journals.
• No author will be required to relinquish copyright, but instead will be provided with options that enable publication while also providing authors with generous reuse rights.
• Publishers will directly deposit scholarly articles in institutional repositories immediately upon publication or will provide tools/mechanisms that facilitate immediate deposit.
• Publishers will provide computational access to subscribed content as a standard part of all contracts, with no restrictions on non-consumptive, computational analysis of the corpus of subscribed content.
• Publishers will ensure the long-term digital preservation and accessibility of their content through participation in trusted digital archives.
• Institutions will pay a fair and sustainable price to publishers for value-added services, based on transparent and cost-based pricing models.

The MIT Framework creates a mechanism for ensuring scholarly research outputs are openly and equitably available to the broadest and most inclusive audience possible, while also providing valued services to our community. The vision we seek to advance through the application of this framework is one in which enduring, abundant, equitable, and meaningful access to scholarship serves to empower and inspire humanity.

The value in published scholarship originates in the labor of authors, peer reviewers and editors; and control of scholarly communications ought to reside with scholars and their communities and institutions. By reasserting scholarly control of scholarship, publisher contracts based on the MIT Framework will advance not only MIT’s mission and vision, but will also move the entire scholarly communications landscape closer to the scholar-led, open, and equitable environment that promises to enhance opportunities for collaboration and speed the accumulation of knowledge and insight.

Endorsements

MIT intends to rely on this Framework as a guide for our relationships with publishers regardless of the actions of any of our peer institutions or other organizations. We are, however, delighted that the following institutions have decided that that these principles will advance open scholarship and the public good, and have therefore decided to endorse this Framework:

• Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
• Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)
• Bates College
• Boston College
• Clemson University
• Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
  • Colorado College
  • Colorado Mesa University
  • Colorado School of Mines
  • Colorado State University
  • Colorado State University – Pueblo
  • Denver Public Library
  • Regis University
  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs
  • University of Colorado Denver
  • Metropolitan State University of Denver
  • Community College of Denver
  • United States Air Force Academy
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  • University of Denver
  • University of Northern Colorado
  • University of Wyoming
  • Western Colorado University
• Dartmouth College Library
• Duke University Libraries
• East Carolina University
• Gettysburg College Library
• Grand Valley State University
• Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)
  • Arizona State University
  • Baylor University
  • Brigham Young University
  • The Claremont Colleges
  • Colorado State University
  • Iowa State University
  • Kansas State University
  • Oklahoma State University
  • Oregon State University
  • Rice University
  • Southern Illinois University
  • Southern Methodist University
  • Texas A&M University
  • Texas State University
  • Texas Tech University
  • University of Arizona
  • University of Arkansas
  • University of Colorado at Boulder
  • University of Delaware
  • University of Denver
  • University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
  • University of Houston
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
  • University of Kansas
  • University of Missouri
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • University of New Mexico
  • University of Oklahoma
  • University of Oregon
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • University of Utah
  • University of Washington
  • University of Wyoming
  • Utah State University
  • Washington State University
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • Wayne State University
  • West Virginia University
• Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication
• Illinois Wesleyan University
• Indiana State University Cunningham Memorial Library
• Instituto Internacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Educativo (INDTEC)
• IUPUI University Library
• Kent State University Libraries
• Lafayette College Libraries
• MIT Ad Hoc Task Force on Open Access to MIT’s Research
• MIT Committee on the Library System
• MIT School of Engineering
• MIT School of Architecture and Planning
• MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
• MIT School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• NERL Executive Board
• Ohio State University Libraries
• Ryerson University Library
• Syracuse University Libraries
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
• Tufts University Libraries
• UCLA Library
• University of Colorado Boulder
• University of Connecticut
• University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
• University of Denver Libraries
• University of Guelph
• University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
• University of Massachusetts Libraries
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries
• University of North Dakota Libraries
• University of North Texas
• University of Pittsburgh Library System
• University of San Diego
• University of Tennessee Libraries
• University of Toronto Libraries
• University of Washington Libraries
• Virginia research libraries
  • William and Mary Libraries
  • Old Dominion University Libraries
  • Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
  • University of Virginia Library
  • Virginia Tech University Libraries
  • James Madison University Libraries
  • George Mason University Libraries
• Virginia Tech
• Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) consortium
  • George Mason University
  • Old Dominion University
  • University of Virginia
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Virginia Tech
  • William & Mary
  • Christopher Newport University
  • James Madison University
  • Longwood University
  • Norfolk State University
  • Radford University
  • University of Mary Washington
  • University of Virginia’s College at Wise
  • Virginia Military Institute
  • Virginia State University
  • Richard Bland College
  • Blue Ridge Community College
  • Central Virginia Community College
  • Dabney S. Lancaster Community College
  • Danville Community College
  • Eastern Shore Community College
  • Germanna Community College
  • J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College
  • John Tyler Community College
  • Lord Fairfax Community College
  • Mountain Empire Community College
  • New River Community College
  • Northern Virginia Community College
  • Patrick Henry Community College
  • Paul D. Camp Community College
  • Piedmont Virginia Community College
  • Rappahannock Community College
  • Southside Virginia Community College
  • Southwest Virginia Community College
  • Thomas Nelson Community College
  • Tidewater Community College
  • Virginia Highlands Community College
  • Virginia Western Community College
  • Wytheville Community College
  • Appalachian College of Pharmacy
  • Appalachian School of Law
  • Averett University
  • Bluefield College
  • Bridgewater College
  • Christendom College
  • Divine Mercy University
  • Eastern Mennonite University
  • Eastern Virginia Medical School
  • Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine
  • Emory and Henry College
  • Ferrum College
  • Hampden-Sydney College
  • Hampton University
  • Hollins University
  • Liberty University
  • Mary Baldwin University
  • Marymount University
  • Randolph College
  • Randolph-Macon College
  • Regent University
  • Roanoke College
  • Shenandoah University
  • Southern Virginia University
  • Sweet Briar College
  • Union Presbyterian Seminary
  • University of Lynchburg
  • University of Richmond
  • Virginia Union University
  • Virginia Wesleyan University
  • Washington & Lee University
  • Institute for Advanced Learning and Research
  • Library of Virginia
  • New College Institute
  • Roanoke Higher Education Center
  • Southern Virginia Higher Education Center
  • Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
• Wayne State University Library System
• Western Libraries
• Western Michigan University Libraries
• Xavier University of Louisiana
• Yale University Library